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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27052702">You're All I See</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/savandthestars/pseuds/savandthestars'>savandthestars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Descendants (Disney Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bisexual Mal (Disney), Endgame Evie/Mal (Disney), Evie &amp; Carlos de Vil Friendship, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Good Slytherins, Hufflepuff &amp; Slytherin Inter-House Friendships, Hufflepuff/Slytherin Inter-House Relationships, Lesbian Evie (Disney), Mal-centric (Disney), Slow Burn, Yule Ball (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:15:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>49,402</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27052702</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/savandthestars/pseuds/savandthestars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal is hardcore failing her classes at Hogwarts. She needs help. She needs Evie.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evie &amp; Mal (Disney), Evie/Mal (Disney)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>185</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. No Hogsmeade for Mal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/malberthas/gifts">malberthas</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>If you're going to argue with me about the houses I've sorted everyone into you might as well leave right now.<br/>Hope you enjoy. I tried my best.<br/>Food mention</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Don’t you ever get tired of Quidditch?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Doesn’t matter- can’t stop. Dad wants me to play professional after school.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Is that what you want to do?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The boy shrugged. “Don’t know. What do you want to do then?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was the girl’s turn to shrug. “Why should I bother thinking about that now?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Fine then- don’t tell me. Go get your broom! I need someone to play against.”</em>
</p><p>Mal was daydreaming through her last class of the day, which was how she spent many of her lessons these days. It took a jab from Uma’s elbow into her ribcage to bring her back to the Transfiguration classroom. McGonagall had just finished speaking to the class before dismissing them, and Mal had missed all of it. That didn’t concern her too much, however, because she knew Uma would catch her up when they got back to the Slytherin common room.</p><p>“Miss…Mal, would you be so kind as to see me for a moment?” Mal heard the sigh in Professor McGonagall’s voice. McGonagall often sighed when addressing Mal and she had long assumed it was a combination of McGonagall’s frustration with the lack of a surname to use (Mal had never heard McGonagall call anyone else by their first name) and Mal’s general personality.</p><p>Uma put a hand on Mal’s shoulder as she walked past her. “Good luck, mate. I’ll see you later.”</p><p>Mal approached McGonagall’s desk at the front of the room as the rest of her classmates filed out. A few of her fellow Slytherins met her eyes with encouraging looks while all of the Ravenclaws avoided eye contact altogether. Mal was not known at Hogwarts for her winning personality, especially towards anyone outside of Slytherin.</p><p>McGonagall waited until all the other students had left before clearing her throat and beginning the torture. “I would like you to tell me what today’s lesson was on.”</p><p>Mal stayed silent. They both knew that she wouldn’t be able to answer the question; there was no point in guessing.</p><p>McGonagall didn’t wait long for a reply but carried on instead. “I’ll get straight to the point- I do not tolerate laziness in this class. You are in your fifth year now and it’s time to start acting like it. If you have any intention of passing your O.W.L. I suggest you buckle down and start studying.”</p><p>Mal continued her silence but nodded at the professor. She had been having similar conversations with many of her professors and had learned that staying silent would get her out the door faster.</p><p>McGonagall took a moment to size Mal up in her present state. This was her fifth year at Hogwarts, so Mal had grown accustomed to keeping her tie straight and making sure her shoes stayed clean (a huge improvement from her first couple of years). The rest of her was, for lack of a better word, unseemly. Her purple hair was cut short and uneven- a botched job Uma had done in their room after a wayward spell had singed her tips. She couldn’t even remember the last time she bothered to condition her hair. Her nails were bitten down to the nub yet somehow always had dirt under them. She had pasty pale skin that was dotted with various cuts and bruises she earned from multiple occasions, not excluding the occasional fist fight. But what she lacked in style she made up for with a sly smile and brilliant green eyes that she knew how to take full advantage of in a pinch.</p><p>She must have passed as adequate in McGonagall’s eyes, or at least somewhere in that zone, because McGonagall gave one last small sigh before gesturing to the door and saying, “off you go, then.”</p><p>Mal didn’t need to be told twice. She hurried out the door before the professor could change her mind and went to catch up with Uma before dinner.</p><p>-</p><p>“So, what are you gonna do?” Uma asked between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes. Mal hadn’t found Uma until she had wandered down to the Great Hall for dinner and had finally caught her up to what Uma had quickly titled the Transfiguration Situation. Mal had pointed out that she was technically failing more than just Transfiguration. Uma had pointed out that no other classes rhymed with ‘situation’.</p><p>Mal shrugged. She wasn’t new to falling behind in class. Every year she seemed to barely scrape by in anything that didn’t interest her (she saw absolutely no point in reading tea leaves or potting shrieking plants). But her professors seemed more concerned than ever with getting her to “reach her full potential” or whatever they had been lecturing her about. With the O.W.L’s looming over the head of every fifth-year, Mal was hardly surprised.</p><p>“Maybe we could study together.”</p><p>“Uma, we already study together.”</p><p>“I study. You hang around next to me and doodle. I mean maybe we could both study.”</p><p>“Mal? Study? I’d pay to see that.”</p><p>Jay hopped over the bench the girls were sitting on and landed beside Mal. He gave her a quick nudge to say hello, grabbed the roll off of her plate, and started eating.</p><p>“Hey that’s mine! Get your own!” Mal protested. Jay didn’t bother swallowing before speaking. He rarely did. “I already ate my own.”</p><p>Uma rolled her eyes. “Tell your Gryffindor sidekick to go back to his own table. He’s more than welcome to spit out crumbs over there.”</p><p>“Always a pleasure, Uma.”</p><p>Uma and Jay didn’t actually hate each other, not really. If anything, it was to keep up the charade that Gryffindors and Slytherins were mortal enemies. Jay and Mal had lived next door to each other their whole lives and Mal had met Uma their very first year on the Hogwarts Express. Mal was the glue that bonded the three of them together.</p><p>“Jay, ye’re not annoying Uma without me, are ye?”</p><p>And then there was Harry.</p><p>Jay had introduced Harry to the girls in their second year. They had met playing on the same Quidditch team. Jay said they were bound to get along because Harry and Mal shared a love of swearing and looking disheveled. The similarities mostly ended there, but Mal had to admit that Harry was mostly funny and knew how to have a good time.</p><p>Harry plopped himself down on the other side of Mal, roughly pushing Uma to the side in the process, and began eating Mal’s potatoes with his fingers. “What are we talking about, then?”</p><p>“Mal’s failing.”</p><p>The only thing stopping Mal from strangling Uma was the large boy between them. It didn’t matter if she and Harry were friends- he would twist his knife in her all the same if it pleased him.</p><p>But Harry seemed surprisingly indifferent. “What’s the big deal?”</p><p>“Our O.W.L’s are this year. Or have you forgotten?”</p><p>“Again, I say, what’s the big deal? O.W.L’s are only good for getting a job the Ministry can control ye in.”</p><p>Uma folded her arms. She had a hard time letting things go, especially if Harry was involved. “Oh yeah? What are you gonna do then?”</p><p>Harry grinned. He looked like he had been waiting all day for someone to ask him that. “Gonna go work with me dad. He enchants old ships- makes ‘em work in the water again. Even in the sky if he finds a really good one.”</p><p>Mal had to admit that sounded cool. She would have a lot more fun exploring the world than being stuck in an old castle being bossed around by every adult that thought they knew better.</p><p>Uma got a good look at Mal’s wistful face. “Well in case that doesn’t pan out,” she stressed, “you’re welcome to join Mal and me for our study session tomorrow.”</p><p>“I’ll pass. Hogsmeade’s tomorrow. I’ve been saving up me Sickles for some exploding bubblegum.”</p><p>Hogsmeade visits were on the very top of Mal’s favorite things to do at Hogwarts list. Every month she would go with Uma, Harry, and Jay through the shops until they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. Last month, they had bought so much candy that there wasn’t room on the table for their butter beers. That stash was almost entirely gone, and Mal had stored some Galleons away to restock the load. If she missed this trip, she’d have to go until Christmas without a single sugar rush.</p><p>“Uma,” Mal started carefully. “I will absolutely study with you this weekend. But it doesn’t have to be tomorrow. There’s no surprise exam this weekend. We can all go to Hogsmeade tomorrow like always and studying can start first thing Sunday morning.”</p><p>“Yeah, don’t be such a hardass,” Jay said in an attempt to help Mal out. Mal kicked him under the table before he could say anything else.</p><p>“Fine. But we’re studying all day Sunday. I will not have my best friend expelled and sent away.”</p><p>Mal nodded. “Absolutely. Sure thing. All day Sunday.”</p><p>Uma sighed. “Fine. But only because I’m all out of chocolate frogs. I still need Flitwick’s card.”</p><p>“I’ve got an extra Flitwick you can have.”</p><p>“Uma sat up. “Really, Jay?”</p><p>Jay grinned. “Yeah. It’s yours for five Galleons.”</p><p>Harry cackled. Uma slumped back in her chair, stabbed at her potatoes, and Mal swore she heard her utter “fucking Gryffindors” under her breath. Mal couldn’t help but smile.</p><p>-</p><p>“I’m deeply sorry, but I cannot allow you on this trip with your present grades.”</p><p>The October air was cold, and it stung the tips of Mal’s ears. She was standing in the courtyard with all the other students eager to go to Hogsmeade. Unlike all the other students, McGonagall refused to let Mal through to the group of students already approved and waiting for the trip to start. Uma, Jay, and Harry had already gone through and were waiting for Mal to join them.</p><p>“What? Are you freakin’ kidding me?”</p><p>“I will thank you not to take that tone with me, young lady. Perhaps you can spend today mastering some of our previous lessons. If I recall correctly, your owl to opera glasses appeared more as owl to slightly-smaller-owl.” McGonagall turned and walked to the group of students behind her, leaving Mal no opportunity to get the last word on the subject.</p><p>She made eye contact with Uma across the courtyard. Uma gave her a hesitant look, clearly asking permission to go ahead.</p><p>“It’s fine,” Mal called out. “Get me something that’ll rot my teeth.”</p><p>Uma nodded and gave Mal one last sympathetic look before joining the boys, leaving Mal to walk back inside alone and candy-less. She walked slowly around the castle with no destination in mind. The halls were deserted; everyone was either headed to Hogsmeade or spending the Saturday morning sleeping in.</p><p>She passed the open door of the Charms classroom. She stopped to watch Peeves letting frogs loose for Flitwick to find later. He looked up at her and grinned.</p><p>“Left out of all the fun? Little Lonely Mally with no friends?”</p><p>“Go fuck a frog, Peeves,” Mal said as she walked away. She could hear Peeves howl with laughter even from the end of the hallway.</p><p>In her boredom, Mal found herself wandering down to the library with her backpack in tow. She was expecting it to be completely empty on a Saturday morning but was surprised to see another fifth year reshelving a stack of books he was carrying. She watched as he lifted each book and let go in midair, allowing the book to float by itself to its proper place on the shelf.</p><p>After a minute Mal made her way to one of the tables and flung her backpack down. She hadn’t bothered to zipper it up all the way, so her books scattered out onto the table. <em>Intermediate Transfiguration</em> opened in front of her on the chapter <em>Owl to Opera Glasses.</em></p><p>“I guess that’s as good a place to start as any,” Mal grumbled to herself as she sat down.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Bertha, Mal.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Mal walked up the steps to the stool and sat down facing the entire room. She felt incredibly small in her new robes, but she sat tall and made a point to harden her face. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Sorting Hat was placed on her head and covered her eyes. She expected some great revelation, but in less than a moment the hat declared “Slytherin!” and her view of the Great Hall came back as the hat was removed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Her face melted into a smile as the whole room cheered. She made her way to the Slytherin table, who cheered louder than any other house, and sat down at the end. She was the first Slytherin to be sorted this year so far and was considerably smaller than everyone else sitting with her. The second year sitting next to her slapped her on the back. “Welcome to Slytherin!” A few others around her followed suit in a chorus of “Welcome!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal didn’t stop smiling.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Two hours later Mal was on the exact same page she had started on; she hadn’t learned anything about owls or opera glasses. She pressed her face to the pages, hoping that the proximity to the words would somehow help the knowledge float into her brain.</p><p>“You aren’t dead, are you?”</p><p>Mal shot her head up and looked at the boy staring at her from across the table. It was the same boy as before but with a new stack of books in his hands. His curls seemed to cover his eyes, and Mal wondered how he saw where he was walking.</p><p>“I may be soon enough,” Mal answered him.</p><p>The boy’s eyes darted down to her book. “You haven’t moved off of that page in two hours.”</p><p>“I just really love owls,” Mal retorted. “Are you spying on me?”</p><p>“I just notice things, that’s all.”</p><p>“Well, go notice things somewhere else. I’m fucked if I don’t learn this.”</p><p>“I’m Carlos.”</p><p>“Okay. Go notice things somewhere else, <em>Carlos</em>.”</p><p>But instead, Carlos put the books he was carrying on the table and sat down. He grabbed a book from the stack and stretched across the table to hand it to Mal.</p><p>Mal took it from him and read <em>Draconifors Spellbook</em> on the cover. “What’s this, then?” she asked, exasperated. She didn’t have time for fucking around. Well, besides the past two hours she spent fucking around.</p><p>“It’s a book.”</p><p>“Carlos, I am so close to stabbing you with my wand.”</p><p>“I thought it might be more interesting to read than owl to opera glasses.”</p><p>“I learned this spell my third year.”</p><p>“And we learned owl to opera glasses last month.”</p><p>Mal squinted her eyes. She vaguely remembered Carlos was a fifth year with her, but he was so scrawny she seemed to perpetually think of him as a second year.</p><p>“So why aren’t you at Hogsmeade, then?”</p><p>Carlos looked down at the table. “No permission form,” he said quietly. “You?”</p><p>“Failing. If I don’t get this Transfiguration grade up, McGonagall will never let me out of this castle again.”</p><p>Carlos nodded. There was a moment of silence where Mal’s eyes floated back to the page of her book and then, “You don’t know how to study, do you?”</p><p>Mal huffed. “I know you can’t study with interruptions from annoying Hufflepuffs.”</p><p>“Okay then.” Carlos got up and collected his books to leave.</p><p>“Wait,” Mal heard herself say without thinking. She must have been really desperate. “I need help. You’ll do that, right? Hufflepuffs are all about helping and shit?”</p><p>Mal saw the tiniest smile form on Carlos’ lips as he turned to her. “I’m rubbish at Transfiguration. I bet Evie would help if you asked. She’s the best in our class.”</p><p>Again, Mal had a vague sense of who Evie was. She was another fifth year in Hufflepuff. The only reason she stuck out to Mal was her bright blue hair contrasting the yellow on her robes. She was always surrounded by a group of other Hufflepuffs giggling about who-knows-what.</p><p>“Fine,” Mal said. She started packing her books back into her bag. “Tell her to meet me here after dinner.” She slid the spell book across the table towards Carlos.</p><p>Carlos stopped it with his hand and put it on top of the stack he was holding. “I’ll <em>ask</em> her if she wants to come.”</p><p>“Whatever.” Mal slung her backpack over her shoulder and barely looked back at the boy. “Tell her I’ll repay her.” And with that, Mal left the library having accomplished nothing at all that day and not giving it another thought.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Evie the Blueberry Queen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Evie is the absolute love of my life and I want you all to know.<br/>Food mention again</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Can I sit?” Mal pointed at the empty seat across from the young girl.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> The girl nodded and Mal sat on the bench. She looked out the window facing Platform 9 ¾ and the sea of parents waving their children off for another school year.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> A larger woman was standing just outside of Mal’s window. She was waving violently at Mal’s carriage. “Bye, Uma! You show ‘em who’s the best!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The girl across from Mal took one look out the window, gave a feeble wave at the woman, and shrank back into her seat, clearly embarrassed. It took everything Mal had not to burst out laughing, but a smile still escaped onto her lips. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The girl named Uma huffed. “You think that’s funny?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s nice. My mom isn’t even here.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma’s face softened and her shoulders relaxed. “Oh.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was a moment of awkward silence between the two; Uma clearly didn’t know what else to say. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m Uma,” she finally blurted out as she extended her hand towards Mal. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal sized the girl up before taking it. “Yeah. Your mom already told me.” She shook Uma’s hand firmly. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>That earned a giggle from Uma that Mal returned. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m Mal.”</em>
</p><p>Mal had decided that she didn’t want to hear all about her friends’ fantastic time in Hogsmeade without her, so she ended up skipping dinner and making her way back to the library early. She found a chair in a secluded area hidden by bookshelves and sat doodling in her notebook.</p><p>She couldn’t gauge how much time had passed, but before she knew it Carlos stood over her chair, waiting for her attention, accompanied by the blueberry queen herself. He didn’t speak until Mal looked up from her drawing.</p><p>“I brought Evie.”</p><p>“I can see that” Mal replied. She gave a slight nod in Evie’s direction without actually making eye contact.</p><p>Evie didn’t return the gesture- instead, she put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips ever so slightly. “If you’re going to be rude, I have no problem leaving; <em>you’re</em> the one who needs a favor, remember?”</p><p>So, the princess had some fire in her. Mal gave a small smile and put up her hands to say that she was backing down. Evie looked to Carlos. He seemed to give some sort of confirmation that everything was okay, because she smiled back, hands still on her hips.</p><p>“McGonagall said we can use her classroom to study. It’ll be empty tonight, obviously.”</p><p>“Woah, we’re starting right now?”</p><p>“Unless you’ve got something better to do.”</p><p>Mal could think of several things she could be doing instead (including finding Peeves and shoving a frog up his ghost ass), but she held her tongue and begrudgingly followed the Hufflepuffs to the Transfiguration classroom. She half expected McGonagall to be waiting for her, in cat-form and all, to meow disappointingly at her. But true to Evie’s word, the classroom was empty, save for a tawny owl sitting patiently on one of the desks.</p><p>The owl screeched with delight when it saw Evie. It flew across the room, landed on her shoulder, and began affectionately nipping on her ear.</p><p>“Mal, this is Bennett. Bennett, Mal.” Evie introduced the two. Mal didn’t have an owl of her own and didn’t have much experience with them except for her mother’s old great grey Diablo, and Mal was never permitted to go anywhere near him. Still, even from afar she found owls intriguing.</p><p>“Hi, Bennett,” Mal said as she extended her finger to the bird. Bennett took one look at Mal’s finger and bit her as hard as he could.</p><p>“Ow!” Mal cried, pulling her finger back. “The little shit bit me! I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be nice.”</p><p>“He’s not a Hufflepuff- he’s an owl.”</p><p>“Carlos I will stab you so hard.”</p><p>“Let’s get started,” Evie interrupted before either one of the others could continue. “Owl to opera glasses is easy enough; Carlos said you were reading up on it this afternoon?”</p><p>“Reading is a…loose term,” Mal said as she nursed her finger.</p><p>“Well, let’s see what you’ve got!” Evie moved Bennett back onto the desk and stood to the side with Carlos to watch.</p><p>Mal took out her wand (eleven inches, holly, dragon heartstring) and squinted at the owl. “Strigiforma!” she shouted. She felt her wand kick back in her hands as the spell flew out and hit the owl square in the chest.</p><p>The owl turned into…a slightly angrier owl. Bennett ruffled his feathers and gave a small screech of protest at being hit. Carlos and Evie looked from the complaining owl to Mal back to the owl.</p><p>“Well,” Evie said after a while, “the good news is that’s the worst you’ll ever do it.”</p><p>Hufflepuff optimism. Mal would have rather she said that Mal and her wand belonged in the trash.</p><p>“Why do I need to know this stupid spell anyway? If I need opera glasses, I can just buy some. Actually, I can just avoid operas altogether!”</p><p>Evie walked over to Bennett and gave him a little treat. The owl accepted it and reverted back to his (misleading) friendly demeanor. “It’s not about the opera glasses. You’re sharpening your skills and training your wand for more complicated transfigurations.”</p><p>She walked over and stood next to Mal, this time addressing Mal’s attempt. “That was okay. Your stance is good, but your wrist movement is all wrong. Like this,” she mimicked casting the spell, exaggerating the swish of her wrist. “Now you try.”</p><p>Mal faced Bennett again. She took a breath as she pictured Evie’s wrist in her head. “Strigiforma!” The wand kicked again. The spell hit the owl again. The owl turned into…an owl with lenses for eyes.</p><p>“Again.”</p><p>-</p><p>Mal made it to her room just before curfew. Evie had had her repeat the spell over and over until she got it perfect. It took a while, but by the end of the night Bennett had turned completely into a pair of opera glasses more times than not.</p><p>There was definitely a hardness to Evie that Mal didn’t typically associate with Hufflepuff. The girl hadn’t wavered at Mal’s protests or profanity the whole night and hadn’t accepted anything except Mal’s best. It left Mal exhausted, but she felt a strange glow in her chest when Evie had told her “well done!” at the end of the night.</p><p>A pile of sweets was waiting for Mal on her bed. Uma was sitting on her own bed with a matching pile of sweets She hadn’t waited for Mal to start eating them, however, and a small pile of wrappers was slowly growing on the floor.</p><p>“How many of those have you had?”</p><p>Uma grinned, revealing her chocolate-stained teeth. “I had to go through all the Chocolate Frogs, didn’t I? But all I got were Dumbledores and a Lockheart. So, I’m drowning my sorrows in Chocolate Skeletons.”</p><p>Mal sat on her bed and examined her stash. Uma had done a fairly good job: Licorice Wands, Sugar Quills, Acid Pops, and two empty Chocolate Frog boxes. She opened up a Licorice Wand and started chewing on the end.</p><p>“Where were you at dinner? I had to sit with Jamie and listen to her talk about the Bowtruckle she’s working with in class. In my opinion, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”</p><p>Mal gave her famous sly smile as she pulled the licorice out of her mouth. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”</p><p>“Try me.”</p><p>“Transfiguration classroom.”</p><p>Uma gave Mal a weary look. “You haven’t set fire to anything again, have you? McGonagall will have you for breakfast.”</p><p>Mal shook her head, grinning. “Owl to opera glasses.”</p><p>“You’re right- I don’t believe you.”</p><p>“It’s true! That Hufflepuff Evie brought her owl. It took all night, but the little bastard finally changed.”</p><p>“Well- I am speechless. You can show me what you learned tomorrow.”</p><p>“Wait a minute- I already spent all day today studying. You’re telling me I have to waste my entire weekend with this crap?”</p><p>Uma folded her arms. “No- you could always get expelled and have your wand broken in half.”</p><p>Mal’s silence was a sign that Uma had won the conversation and they both knew it. Uma was kind enough to drop the subject and instead told Mal about the things she and the boys had gotten up to in Hogsmeade. Mal half-listened to a story about Jay and Harry’s bet over who could drink more butter beer while also thinking about her time spent in the Transfiguration classroom with the Hufflepuffs. She was normally never someone who made much of an effort with…well…anything. But she couldn’t deny the warmness in her chest she felt when Carlos applauded her opera glasses or when Evie nodded her head in approval and gave a small smile. It was a nice feeling and she had trouble remembering the last time she had felt that way about anything related to school.</p><p>Mal’s thoughts and Uma’s story was interrupted by Jamie walking into the room. She was chewing on her own Licorice Wand as she made a beeline for her bed.</p><p>“I’m exhausted! Mal, you should have come to Hogsmeade today, it was so much fun!”</p><p>“She gets it, Jamie!” Uma snapped as she rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Okay, God! You don’t have to be such a bitch about it!” Jamie rolled onto her stomach, Licorice Wand still in her mouth. “Hey Mal, have I told you about the bowtruckle I’m working with?”</p><p>-</p><p>Once again, Mal found herself sitting at a table in the library, this time accompanied by Uma. The library was filled significantly more than the day before with students finally getting around to their homework before classes tomorrow.</p><p>Uma and Mal had been camped out all day and their stuff had slowly spread to take up the entire table. Books, parchment, quills, water bottles, and candy (hidden from the sight of Madame Pince) trailed across the table to the two girls working through their History of Magic essay.</p><p>“You would think Giant Wars would be more interesting to write about,” Mal grumbled. She looked over at Uma’s parchment. “How are you almost done? I’ve barely gotten three inches.”</p><p>“You’ve got the smallest handwriting I’ve ever seen. Make it bigger.” Uma held up her parchment for Mal to see; her letters looped over the page and did a wonderful job taking up space. In comparison, Mal’s handwriting looked more like chicken scratch that had been struck by a shrinking spell.</p><p>“I don’t have anything left to write anyway. There were giants, they had a war, let’s all move on.”</p><p>“I’m surprised you feel that way, Mal.”</p><p>Mal instinctively straightened in her chair when she heard Evie’s voice. Evie and Carlos were walking towards their table with books in their hands. Mal was amused to see that Carlos was yet again carrying a completely different set of books than the last time she had seen him.</p><p>“Why should I care that the giants had an uprising a million years ago?”</p><p>Evie put her books down on the table so she could put her hands on her hips. Mal was starting to recognize it as Evie’s signature pose. “Because of the Giant Wars, wizards discovered the best way to stun a giant if needed. I bet you’d care if you ever found yourself near one.”</p><p>“You always have an answer for everything, don’t you?”</p><p>It was meant as a retort, but Mal could see that her comment made Evie feel proud of herself. And for some reason, that made Mal feel good. Evie definitely deserved to be proud, even if she was a know-it-all.</p><p>Meanwhile, Carlos slid a book from his pile across the table. It landed right in front of Uma.</p><p>“I’m Carlos,” he said to her.</p><p>“Uh…Uma,” she gave him a side-eye before darting her eyes to Mal and giving her a questioning look.</p><p>“It’s just his thing. He’s cool,” Mal assured her.</p><p>Uma picked up the book and turned it to read the title “<em>The Giants’ Curse: An Examination of the Oppression of Our Gentle Brothers</em>.” It was Carlos’ turn to receive Uma’s questioning stare.</p><p>“For your essay. It’s better than anything Binns would recommend.”</p><p>“Are you spying on us?”</p><p>Mal held up her hand to tell Uma to back off. “Again, it’s just his thing.”</p><p>Uma looked down as she flipped through the pages. “Huh. How’d you know about this?”</p><p>Carlos held up the stack of books he was holding. “I work in the library. Pince has me restock the shelves. I know where all the good books are.”</p><p>This was news to Mal- she had just assumed that Carlos was reading books at an insanely fast rate. It would not have surprised her at all to learn that he could read faster than was humanly possible.</p><p>“Have you ever been in the restricted section?” Uma asked, her full attention on the scrawny boy.</p><p>Carlos nodded. “A few times. Just to put the books back.”</p><p>Uma’s eyes widened. Mal knew that from that point forward, Carlos was alright in Uma’s eyes.</p><p>Evie cleared her throat. Apparently, in her opinion, she had gone too long without adding something to the conversation. “Why don’t we join you? We haven’t finished our essays either.” She sat down across from Mal without waiting for an answer, but Carlos looked at Uma for approval and only sat when she gave him a slight nod.</p><p>With the four of them working together, especially with the addition of the two brainy Hufflepuffs, their essays were done far sooner than Mal would have guessed. She knew that part of the reason was that she didn’t complain the whole time (she figured Evie wouldn’t stand for it), but she was still impressed with how fast they worked.</p><p>“Wow,” Mal exclaimed, “we have a whole afternoon free.”</p><p>“Maybe you do,” Uma said, pushing in her chair. “I have practice. This is the only time this week Roger was able to reserve the field- he’ll kill me if I’m late.”</p><p>“And I have work,” Carlos added. “Pince is less forgiving than Roger.”</p><p>Mal instinctively looked at Evie before realizing that she didn’t really care what the princess was doing the rest of the day. Except that she sort of did.</p><p>“Are you hungry, Mal? We could get something to eat.”</p><p>“Uh, we sit at different tables.”</p><p>Evie rolled her eyes. “Everyone is welcome at the Hufflepuff table.” She grabbed Mal’s hand without waiting for a definite answer. “Come on. See you later, Carlos.”</p><p>And just like that, Mal was headed towards the Great Hall whether she wanted to or not.</p><p>-</p><p>“So, what are you into?”</p><p>Evie and Mal were sitting across from each other at the Hufflepuff table sharing a bowl of grapes. Mal was constantly looking over her shoulder; she felt out of place and felt like she was going to get yelled at any moment. But every time she looked, no one was paying her any attention. Evie wasn’t even noticing Mal’s strange behavior, or maybe she was and just didn’t care.</p><p>“Uh, what do you mean?” Mal asked.</p><p>Evie popped a grape in her mouth. “Well, you clearly don’t like Transfiguration or History of Magic. So, what do you like?”</p><p>Mal took a moment to think. “I don’t really know. I’m not very good at much.”</p><p>“I didn’t ask you what you were good at, I asked what you liked.”</p><p>Mal scrunched her brow as she worked to figure out the difference. “I guess Charms is cool, but no matter what the spell, I always seem to set something on fire. And I <em>definitely</em> like watching Flitwick panic as he tries to put it out.”</p><p>Evie laughed. “I can practically hear his little squeak. One time, I cast a Banishing Charm that accidently sent a chair flying right at him.”</p><p>Mal laughed too as she pictured little Flitwick diving out of the way and the stream of apologies Evie must have shouted his way. She was surprised that Evie found things like that funny; it didn’t seem like a Hufflepuff to laugh at someone else’s misfortune. Or maybe Mal had just never paid attention to any Hufflepuff long enough to actually get to know them.</p><p>She thought some more. “And I like Defense Against the Dark Arts. I like knowing the creepy and strange creatures that are out there.”</p><p>“What about Care of Magical Creatures?”</p><p>Mal scrunched up her nose. “Too boring. If it’s not gonna attack you, it’s not worth thinking about.”</p><p>Evie stuck out her bottom lip in an attempt to pout. “You don’t care about Bennett?”</p><p>“That thing is a demon; he’ll fuck me up if I’m not paying attention.”</p><p>That earned another laugh from Evie. Mal looked down at the grapes she was eating to avoid thinking too much about Evie’s perfect teeth. “What about you? You’re good at everything.”</p><p>Evie snorted. “Hardly,” she said. “I’m gonna lose it if I have to make up one more tea leaf reading for Divination.”</p><p>“I know, right?! That woman is on shrooms.”</p><p>Evie nodded, then went into a rant about the dream journal they were supposed to be keeping. Mal didn’t care about dreams or journals (unless they were for drawing) so she fully expected her mind to wander away to other places. But she found herself hanging onto Evie’s every word, even when she had no idea what the girl was talking about.</p><p>That night, Mal couldn’t fall asleep. She laid in her bed listening to the sound of her friends’ steady breathing. She thought about her History of Magic class with Hufflepuff tomorrow where she would turn in a completed (and accurate) essay for the first time that year. She wondered if Binns would even notice. She wondered if it would have even gotten done without Evie and Carlos. Uma was great, but they had been friends for so long and been through everything together; Mal never felt like she had to be someone else in front of Uma. But with Evie and Carlos, she knew this version of herself wasn’t good enough for them. She knew they would demand more of her. Especially Evie, with her hands on her hips and her furrowed brow and her sharp tongue. Evie didn’t take shit from anyone.</p><p>Mal rolled onto her side. She tried to remember the last person that didn’t take her shit. Uma, Jay, and Harry were immune to Mal by now. She wasn’t going to be scaring them off anytime soon, but they had come to expect the person she had become. And she didn’t really have any other friends. Not that Carlos and Evie were actually her friends- they were just helping her out. When McGonagall got off her back, they could go their separate ways again.</p><p>Mal rolled onto her other side and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t like being alone with her thoughts; nothing good ever came out of it. She forced herself to think about flying with Jay back home in his front yard until she finally fell asleep.</p><p>She dreamed about flying chairs and Bennett the dumb fucking owl.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. In Evie's Defense</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Tried making it the slightest bit longer like an actual real person would do.<br/>Blood mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Practice with me now: swish and flick.” </em>
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  <em>The girl’s tongue was ever so slightly sticking out as she concentrated on her wand’s movement. The rest of the class was doing the same with a chorus of mumbled “swish and flick” echoing their efforts.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Very nice, very nice. Off you go, then.” </em>
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  <em>The girl looked around the classroom to get an idea of everyone else’s abilities before she tried to levitate her own feather. Uma was sitting next to her jabbing her feather with the end of her wand when it refused to move. Jay was sitting at the desk next to her with another Gryffindor boy; both of them were getting increasingly louder until they were shouting at their feathers, which only moved in response to the hot air coming out of their mouths. Only a couple of students around the room managed to get their feather even slightly off their desks and into the air. </em>
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  <em>Mal returned her focus to her own feather. “Wingardium Leviosa!” she commanded as she swished and flicked.</em>
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  <em><strong> BOOM</strong>. </em>
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  <em>Her feather erupted into flames, dancing across the desk and made its way to Uma’s feather, which was quickly consumed as well. Mal let out a small scream in shock and scooted back in her chair to give herself distance between her and the growing fireball. </em>
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  <em>Professor Flitwick acted fast as he scrambled to the girls’ desk and killed the flames with a stream of water from his wand. Mal looked in horror at the scorch mark on her desk and then glanced up at her professor. </em>
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  <em>“There’s one every year,” he muttered.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>Over the next week, Mal and Evie ended up meeting every day to study and practice. Coincidently, Uma and Carlos were always busy when they planned to meet up, so the two girls had been spending most of their time with just each other. The Transfiguration classroom became their second home. Even though Mal knew McGonagall had given them permission to use her classroom, it still felt like a secret the two girls shared together: sneaking away where no one could find them.</p><p>It was hard work and Evie gave Mal more and more spells to juggle: slicing charms, cleaning charms, and concealing charms, not to mention transfiguring beetles, poor Bennett the owl, and even Evie herself.</p><p>“Are you sure this is part of the curriculum, or do you just want to change up your look?”</p><p>“We learned this last year; I can do it in my sleep by now! Just do it!”</p><p>“Colovaria!”</p><p>Mal’s spell hit Evie and her long blue hair transformed into a short, forest green pixie cut. Evie took out her little mirror that she always carried with her to examine Mal’s work. She scrunched up her nose and gave her reflection a disapproving look.</p><p>“What? I didn’t do it right?”</p><p>Evie spoke to Mal without looking away from the mirror. “The spell worked perfectly; you just have no sense of style.” She used her wand to return her hair to its original form and put away her mirror.</p><p>Mal folded her arms and gave Evie a glare. “I have style! Not everyone dresses like they’re perpetually on a red carpet!”</p><p>Mal had a point; it was clear that Evie took pride in her appearance. There was never a strand of hair put of place or a nail that was chipped. When she wasn’t in her Hogwarts robes, all of her outfits were perfectly coordinated and incorporated her signature blue that everyone at Hogwarts had come to associate with Evie. Even when she was in her robes, she looked flawless.</p><p>Evie rolled her eyes. “Please, Mal. That leather jacket you wear is anything but fashionable.”</p><p>Mal acted offended. “I didn’t come here to be insulted!”</p><p>“Okay then: your spell work is definitely improving. You’re a lot more confident with your movements; I bet your wand appreciates it.”</p><p>Going from insults to compliments was already a great case of whiplash, and Mal wasn’t used to being complimented, so she stared at Evie blankly as her mind worked to process this turn in the conversation.</p><p>“This is the part where you say ‘thank you’,” Evie added when Mal had still failed to say anything.</p><p>Along with being complimented, Mal wasn’t used to saying thank you. Or please. Or using manners in general. Her mother had a strict code at home: manners are a sign of weakness. And Mal had spent her whole life proving to her mother that she was not weak.</p><p>Of course, her mother wasn’t here. And it was obvious that manners were something that Evie expected. “Thanks,” Mal muttered quickly and quietly before changing the subject as fast as she could. “We don’t need to study tomorrow, right? Jay and Harry have a match tomorrow against Ravenclaw.”</p><p>“What, you don’t want to spend all day with me?”</p><p>Mal froze again. Evie was a whirlwind of emotion that Mal had trouble navigating. But Evie quickly melted into a smile and a small laugh, and Mal at least knew enough to know that that was a good sign.</p><p>“I’m joking! I never miss a game; Carlos and I have bets on who will win. And it’ll be good to catch up with my other friends; I haven’t seen them as much lately.”</p><p>Mal had almost forgotten that Evie had a life outside of the Transfiguration classroom. With Uma off with her Quidditch team, there wasn’t anyone Mal was ditching for Evie’s lessons. But besides Carlos, Evie had tons of friends from all the houses that she was constantly hanging out with and talking to; it seemed that she had a constant rotation of friends that she spoke to. And this week, Mal had been taking all of her free time. She suddenly felt like a burden that Evie was forced to carry; without Mal, Evie could be spending time with her actual friends.</p><p>“Yeah, well, are we done here? I did the spell right.” Moments before, Mal hadn’t minded the study session. But all of a sudden, she was ready to go back to the dungeon and catch up with Uma.</p><p>Evie tilted her head to one side at Mal’s sudden change in demeanor. “Yeah, you did well today! I bet McGonagall was happy in class!”</p><p>As a matter of fact, Mal had noticed that McGonagall hadn’t sighed nearly as much in her direction that morning. And Mal had found it easier to pay attention when she could actually follow what was happening.</p><p>But that was none of Evie’s business. “Yeah, I guess. See you later, then.” And before Evie had time to say anything else, Mal was out the door.</p><p>-</p><p>October had been a harsh month so far, and today was no exception. Mal bundled up in her Slytherin hat and scarf (to help with the cold) and her leather jacket (more of a fashion statement than actually helpful) in preparation for the game.</p><p>“You’re going to be freezing in that,” Uma scolded her.</p><p>“A jacket’s a jacket. Who are you, my mother?”</p><p>The girls made their way out of the dungeon with the other Slytherins and down to the Quidditch field along with the rest of the school; no one ever missed a Quidditch game.</p><p>The field was decorated in red and blue banners to celebrate the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams that were playing that morning. The stands were full of excited students chatting about who they though were going to win. Mal and Uma found seats in the Slytherin section along with some fourth years they were friendly with.</p><p>Across the pitch, Mal could see McGonagall and Flitwick sitting next to each other and talking. Mal smiled; the conversation looked civil, but Mal knew they were both talking shit about each other’s team.</p><p>“Do you think Jay and Harry are ready for today?” Mal asked Uma.</p><p>Uma nodded. “Lonnie has been working them like crazy. Roger and I snuck onto the pitch a couple days ago while they were practicing; their formations look flawless.”</p><p>“They’ll certainly give Ravenclaw a run for their money,” Evie added as she and Carlos made their way through the crowd of Slytherins to Mal and Uma. Mal was definitely starting to notice a pattern of Evie coming into the conversation at exactly the right moment and having the perfect comment to add. Her mind created a picture of Evie with Extendable Ears just out of sight, waiting for the perfect moment to arrive in every conversation.</p><p>“Uh, what are you doing here?” Mal asked. She looked around at the immediate crowd of Slytherins all staring and whispering at the two newcomers fully clad in yellow; they were striking against the subtle green of Slytherin.</p><p>“We came to say hello,” Carlos told her. He looked over and gave a small wave at the group of sixth years staring at him, obviously oblivious to what their stares meant.</p><p>“That’s great but…this is the Slytherin section.”</p><p>“So?” Evie put her hands on her hips. <em>Here we go</em>, thought Mal.</p><p>“So, go back to your own section, princess!” A Slytherin shouted from behind her. Other kids nodded in support of the statement.</p><p>Evie looked directly at Mal. Mal looked directly at her shoes. Carlos and Uma both decided the best course of action was to look into the sky.</p><p>Once it had been made clear that Mal wasn’t going to say anything in the Hufflepuffs’ defense, Evie turned and stormed back to her own section, not even bothering to wait for Carlos.</p><p>Carlos gave Mal a look that she couldn’t quite figure out, although she thought it resembled disappointment, then ran after his friend, weaving his way through the crowd.</p><p>“Well that wasn’t good,” Uma helpfully added as she looked at the Hufflepuffs disappear in the crowd. Mal stayed silent. She was angry (although angry at what she didn’t know) and nothing good ever happened when Mal spoke when she was angry. It was a trick Uma had taught her a couple years ago after telling Professor Slughorn to go fuck himself: <em>bite down on your fucking tongue if you have to, you aren’t gonna cost Slytherin any more points</em>.</p><p>“And here come the teams!” Macey Sullivan, a sixth year Ravenclaw, was the official Quidditch announcer. At the sound of her voice, both teams came soaring onto the pitch at opposite ends of the pitch. Mal could see both Jay and Harry in their bright red robes. Jay looked confident and distinguished in his uniform and he absolutely knew it. Harry looked like a maniac with his hair disheveled and his flying ever-so-slightly off kilter. All the players took their positions, the captains shook hands, and Madame Hooch started the match with a blow on her whistle.</p><p>Mal barely focused on the Quidditch match; she was too busy sulking. She was vaguely aware of the roar from the Gryffindor section when their Seeker caught the snitch and won the game for them and instinctively got up with Madame Hooch’s whistle ending the match. She filed out of the stands with Uma by her side.</p><p>"You'll catch up with them later," Uma assured her.</p><p>-</p><p>Mal had to wait until Monday morning in History of Magic to see Evie again, and even then, the princess didn’t even look Mal’s way when she entered the room with Carlos by her side. Carlos put his stuff down at his desk next to Evie and then came up and stood in front of Mal and Uma while Evie made a point to talk to anyone else in the room.</p><p>“Hey, guys,” Carlos greeted.</p><p>“I take it the princess is still pissed?”</p><p>Carlos looked over his shoulder at Evie talking to a couple Hufflepuff girls that Mal couldn’t name. “You weren’t exactly nice to her at the game on Saturday.”</p><p>Mal folded her arms. “Are you kidding me? I didn’t even say anything!”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem. You should have stood up for her.”</p><p>Uma nodded. “Curly’s right.”</p><p>“Oh, so now everyone has an opinion! We aren’t even friends!”</p><p>“What are you, then?”</p><p>Just then Professor Binns floated through the chalkboard with a “good morning, class.” Mal had never been so happy to see him in her whole life, although that wasn’t saying much. Carlos gave her one final look that said “clean your fucking mess up” before returning to the front to sit next to Evie.</p><p>Mal took up her usual position for listening to a lecture from Binns (slumped over onto her desk). They were talking about Giant Wars again, and Mal suspected that Binns had completely forgotten that he had already lectured on the subject. It didn’t take long for her to drift off into her own mind and settle in a place that even Uma couldn’t shake her out of.</p><p>
  <em> “They haven’t seen the last of me!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Maleficent was on another rampage, storming around the house and swishing her robes around for a dramatic flair. This was not an uncommon occurrence in Mal’s house, and she had grown accustomed to staying well out of her mother’s way when she was in one of her moods.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Unfortunately for Mal, she had been in the kitchen grabbing a snack when Maleficent swooped in and had no escape route available to her. She resigned herself to sitting at the kitchen table and playing the audience until Maleficent seemed satisfied. At least there was cookies. </em>
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  <em>“They think they’re so smart! They think they’re safe! I’ll show them!” Maleficent waved her staff around in the air. The Ministry of Magic had broken Maleficent’s wand long ago, but that didn’t stop someone as powerful as Maleficent; there were many places to find magical items in one knew where to look. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mal!” Maleficent shouted, this time pointing her staff directly at her daughter. “What was my mistake?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal had had this conversation many times with her mother; it was something Maleficent had vowed to instill in her daughter. “Trusting others,” she said with no enthusiasm in her voice. She took another bite of her cookie. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes, my girl! This world and everyone in it will fuck you over if you let them. When you go to Hogwarts, you’ll see. They’ll play their little mind games and try and trick you, but you have to be smarter! Are you listening?” </em>
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  <em>“Mm-hm,” Mal mumbled with her face full. Maleficent took one look at Mal and swung her staff at her, hitting her square in the face and knocking her off her chair. She put her boot on Mal’s chest, pinning her down, and spoke to her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I can tell you don’t believe me, but you’ll soon see. Trusting others is weakness. Friendship is weakness. I’m the only one you need to listen to, understand?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal gave a curt nod to show she was listening; if she tried to speak, she would have choked. Maleficent seemed satisfied and got off of her. She spun around and stormed into the next room, all the while muttering “It’s only a matter of time. Then they’ll see,” leaving Mal to cough on cookie crumbs on the hard kitchen floor.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>History of Magic left Mal feeling miserable. She would normally go eat lunch with Uma in the Great Hall after class, but she feigned a headache (perfectly believable after listening to Binns for an hour) and headed back to the Slytherin common room instead.</p><p>She was hoping it would be empty on a Monday morning, but there were a few Slytherins hanging around, talking and finishing some last-minute homework. Mal found an empty chair and sagged into it, barely remembering to take off her backpack. She really was starting to get a headache, which in her opinion was instant karma for lying to her best friend.</p><p>“Hey Mal, where’s your girlfriend?” A voice pierced Mal’s skull from behind her and it was followed up by giggles from the other kids. Mal turned around in her chair to see Devon Harding, a seventh year, with her group of friends. Devon had been the one to tell Evie to leave at the game on Saturday. And Mal had done nothing.</p><p>“Fuck off, Devon,” Mal muttered.</p><p>At that statement, Devon stood up. She was a big, beefy girl that used her size to her advantage. She was an-around bully that wasn’t picky about who she mocked or beat up as long as her goons were there to cheer her on.</p><p>“Or what?” Devon stepped closer to where Mal was sitting. Mal suddenly remembered that thing about not talking when she’s angry.</p><p>It was clear that this matter was not going away quietly, so Mal stood up and faced the bully. “What do you care anyway? Mind your own fucking business.”</p><p>“I <em>care</em> because you’re bringing your Hufflepuff bitch into Slytherin territory. Anyone outside of Slytherin is a fucking roach, and so are the people who hang out with them.” Devon looked at Mal like she was filth (granted, it <em>had</em> been a couple of days since Mal had showered).</p><p>Devon’s views on the Wizard World weren’t unheard of, but they were rare; even Maleficent hated everyone equally. It took a real asshole of a person to hate someone just because they were different.</p><p>“Don’t call Evie a bitch,” Mal growled, her fists closing.</p><p>Devon laughed. “Alright then; whore works just as well for me!”</p><p>Mal’s punch was quick and merciless; it landed square in Devon’s stomach and Mal heard the wind audibly leave Devon’s chest. Her gang of girls stood around her; mouths open at the sight.</p><p>Devon was quick to bounce back and punched Mal in the face. Mal’s first thought was that she <em>definitely</em> had a headache now.</p><p>Unfortunately, her thinking cost her a chance to defend herself. Devon came back with a blow to Mal’s stomach before shoving her on the ground. She gave a final kick, again to Mal’s face, before grumbling about “fucking fifth-years” and walking away, her gaggle trailing behind her.</p><p>Mal lay on the ground for just a moment before getting up and stumbling out of the common room, her view distorted by the blood in her eyes. She made her way to one of the cells in the dungeon, jiggled the handle on the door, and went inside to sit and be alone. She had found out about this particular cell after a memorable bad day of classes in her second year (she had to eventually go to the hospital wing to get her eyebrows regrown). This was a spot that was just for her; she could be alone, and she knew that she wouldn’t be bothered by anybody.</p><p>By Mal’s estimate, she had spent about an hour alone in the dark before she heard footsteps dangerously close to her hiding spot. Her fears were confirmed when the handle to the door made a large screeching sound, followed by a small voice whispering “aw shit”, followed by the door swinging open.</p><p>“Lumos,” Evie’s voice whispered. Her wand lit up the dark cell and illuminated Evie’s face plastered with concern.</p><p>“How’d you find me?” Mal tried to sound tough, but the charade was ruined by the sight of her hugging her knees in the corner of a cell with tears marking a path through the dried blood on her cheeks.</p><p>Evie knelt down besides Mal. “Uma told me you like to hide out here sometimes. We heard about what happened.”</p><p>Mal wiped her nose with the back of her hand; she didn’t care what the princess thought of her. “Devon’s a little bitch,” she said through sniffles.</p><p>“I know. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Evie reached for Mal’s hand, but Mal withdrew it and tucked it between her stomach and her knees.</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>Evie gave a small sigh. “Okay.” She took off the sweater she was wearing, leaving herself in a tank top.</p><p>“What are you doing?”</p><p>“Cleaning you up; you can’t stay like that forever. Aguamenti!” Evie pointed her wand at her sweater until it was dripping wet.</p><p>“You’ll ruin your sweater.”</p><p>“I have plenty of sweaters. Stay still.” Evie gently wiped the dried blood off of Mal’s cheeks and under her nose. She used the sweater sleeve to get a bit out of Mal’s hair and smooth it out, making it look better than before Mal had gotten hit.</p><p>The girls sat in silence until Evie was done. She discarded her dirtied sweater to her side and used her thumb to wipe away the last bit of dirt from under Mal’s eye. The pressure to her face made Mal wince, but she didn’t want it to stop.</p><p>“Are we cool?” Mal asked. She was scared of the answer, but she desperately needed to know.</p><p>“Yeah,” Evie said softly. “We’re cool.”</p><p>Evie curled up against the wall next to Mal and rested her head on Mal’s shoulder. Mal sat frozen and stiff, unsure of what to do, but when Evie stayed like that Mal found it in her system to relax her muscles and match her breathing to Evie’s.</p><p>Mal could have sat like that in the dark forever, but eventually Evie stood up and pulled Mal up with her. She guided Mal out of the cell, out of the dungeons, and to a tiny, secluded spot in the library. They shared a chair as Evie read aloud from their Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. They had homework to finish, after all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Halloween Spirit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Halloween baby!<br/>Food mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>A bell jingled when the girl pushed the door open. She walked into the dark and dusty shop with the boy trailing close behind her and the boy’s father behind them. The shop was empty except for the famous Ollivander standing behind the counter waiting for his next customer. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Welcome to Ollivander’s,” he greeted with a warm smile. “First years in need of a wand, eh?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>J</em>
  <em>afar nodded and pushed both of the children closer to the counter. “One for each of them.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mm. Tell me, what is your name?” Ollivander stared directly at the girl. She felt as if his eyes were staring directly inside of her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mal.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The name was instantly recognizable to Ollivander. He did a terrible job at hiding the interest in his eyes as he went to the back shelves covered in boxes. He took his time looking through them, pulling one out and giving it a quick glance before putting it back, although what standards the wands were failing Mal could only guess. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s a shame what happened to your mother’s wand,” he said while bringing over a wand that he apparently had deemed worthy. “Thirteen inches, blackthorn, dragon heartstring if I’m not mistaken. And I never am.” He smiled at Mal as he took the wand out of the box and handed it to her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal hadn’t even considered that her mother got her first wand at Ollivander’s. She tried to picture an eleven-year-old Maleficent standing right in this very spot, looking up at this very man, but she couldn’t do it; she couldn’t picture a scenario where her mother wasn’t in control of the entire room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Ollivander took Mal’s silence as apprehensiveness. “Don’t be scared; give it a swish,” he encouraged her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She furrowed her brow as she held the wand tight and waved it around. Red sparks came shooting out at lightning speed and shot in every direction across the room. Jay and Jafar ducked just in time to avoid being hit as each spark hit the walls around them and fizzed out. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ollivander quickly snatched the wand from Mal’s hand and replaced it in the box. “Eager, are we? Not that one.” He returned to the back shelves and swapped it for an identical box. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Again, he handed Mal the wand inside. “I think this one will give you the enthusiasm you’re looking for.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Again, Mal held the wand tight in her hand. She could see out of the corner of her eye Jay and Jafar preemptively ducking their heads. She gave this wand an identical wave and stiffened in anticipation of what would come. A ball of flame shot out of the wand and hovered just in front of Mal, illuminating the room better than any of candles on the wall ever could. It was so bright that Mal had to shield her eyes with her other hand to avoid permanent damage. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ll tell you the same thing I tell all of my customers; the wand chooses the wizard. Eleven inches, holly, dragon heartstring- it’s yours now. Very interesting.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What’s so interesting about it?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Well, Miss Mal, holly is not a common wand wood. It is a difficult wand to master, yes, but very rewarding for those who do. Very protective of their owners and, might I add, is excellent at finding those with a hot fire in them. I shouldn’t like to find myself at the other end of a holly wand.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal looked down at the wand in her hand. Somehow, this little piece of wood had a soul, and it had chosen her. She could feel that she was going to do great things with this wand. She had to.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>After Mal and Devon had both been scolded by Slughorn (“Slytherin is not a house of violence, nor will I let it turn into one!”) and lost their house twenty points each, things calmed down surprisingly quickly. Halloween was just around the corner, and the castle was buzzing with excitement as more and more decorations popped up. The floating candles in the Great Hall were replaced with floating jack-o-lanterns, bats were constantly swooping over heads in the hallways, and even the ghosts were in high spirits as Nearly-Headless Nick made preparations for his deathday party.</p><p>“I shall enjoy the rotting fish Nicolas has promised,” the Bloody Baron was telling Mal and the other fifth year Slytherins at dinner one night. “One can almost remember what food tastes like again.” He looked longingly at the soup Uma was eating.</p><p>Even the professors seemed to be getting in the Halloween spirit; lessons included werewolves in Defense Against the Dark Arts, enchanted pumpkins in Herbology (which were immediately shipped to the kitchens to be turned into pumpkin pie), and a blood-replenishing potion (“In case any vampires are lurking around the castle,” Slughorn said with a wink) in Potions.</p><p>And nobody could stop talking about the famous Halloween feast; the house-elves pulled out all the stops for the holiday. Nobody left the Great Hall hungry or capable of moving very much.</p><p>“Are you guys gonna dress up?” Evie asked during a study session in the library one day when Halloween was only a few days away. On this occasion, Uma and Carlos were free to join and Uma had even convinced Jay and Harry to come along. Halloween excitement did not stop McGonagall from giving a huge exam and even Harry admitted that he needed all the help he could get. The gang took up an entire table, and they had been shushed more than once by Pince, but more brains meant more knowledge. (Or in some cases, more distractions. It took less than fifteen minutes for Mal and Harry to be forcibly moved to opposite ends of the table.)</p><p>“Don’ tell me yer dressin’ up!” Harry laughed. “Tha’s fer children!”</p><p>“I don’t think so,” Carlos said.</p><p>“My point’s been made.”</p><p>Evie ignored Harry. “What about you guys?” she asked Uma and Jay.</p><p>“Not my thing,” said Jay.</p><p>“Ugh, Gryffindors,” Uma scoffed as she rolled her eyes. “Halloween is cool, you know.”</p><p>“What are you going to be, Uma?”</p><p>“I dress up as a pirate every year,” Uma said proudly. “My mom gave me a shell necklace that came straight from the bottom of the ocean. It was guarded by a fleet of merpeople before my mom used a Bubble-Head Charm to retrieve it.”</p><p>“I can’t wait to see it. And what about you, Mal?” Evie turned to face her.</p><p>Mal shrugged. “I’ll figure something out, I guess.”</p><p>“Mal, Halloween is on <em>Tuesday</em>!”</p><p>“I’m aware.”</p><p>“Well this is just unacceptable! Don’t worry, we’ll handle it.”</p><p>Mal took a second to lock eyes with Uma or Carlos in a desperate attempt to figure out what was happening, but both of them had chosen the same moment to look down at their textbook and suppress a smile. “Um, I wasn’t worried.”</p><p>But Evie wasn’t listening. In fact, she had already closed her textbook and was packing her bag up. “Let’s go!”</p><p>Mal took one final look at Uma for a clue as to what to do. Thankfully, the girl was looking up again and motioned for Mal to go. Feeling like she had no other choice, and loving an excuse to get out of studying, Mal gathered up her things and followed the princess out of the library.</p><p>“Ye hang out with some weird people these days,” Mal heard Harry’s voice saying from behind her.</p><p>-</p><p>Mal followed Evie all the way to the seventh floor of the castle. At first, she plagued Evie with questions of “Where are we going?” but chose to save her breath when it was obvious Evie wasn’t giving up her plan.</p><p>Evie finally stopped in front of a gigantic tapestry hanging on the wall. Mal had never been to this part of the castle before and was amused (but not surprised) that Hogwarts had a picture of some wizard surrounded by trolls, attempting to teach them ballet. It was not the weirdest picture she’d seen at Hogwarts, but it was certainly high on the list.</p><p>“You brought me to look at a tapestry of trolls?”</p><p>“Obviously not. Barnabas isn’t good for much of anything.”</p><p>The wizard in the tapestry stopped what he was doing to look down at Mal and Evie. “I may be dead, but I still have feelings!”</p><p>Evie pulled Mal by the arm to the other side of the hallway before Barnabas could yell anything else at them. The wall was blank, which was unusual for Hogwarts; it seemed like every inch of the castle was covered in pictures, portraits, and tapestries dedicated to various witches and wizards throughout history. It was impossible to stomp down the hallway in anger without at least three dead people trying to shout advice from their position on the wall (Mal had learned that first-hand).</p><p>But the wall didn’t stay bare for very long. Out of nowhere, a door as tall as the wall itself appeared bit by bit. Mal couldn’t believe her eyes, even after living in the magical world her whole life, but Evie seemed unfazed. When the door was complete, she pushed it open like she had been walking through invisible doors her whole life and beckoned Mal to follow her.</p><p>Out of everything Mal expected a secret room to be hiding, she never would have guessed clothing. But that’s exactly what she saw when she entered: racks and racks of every outfit imaginable.</p><p>“E, what is this place?”</p><p>The nickname slipped out of Mal’s mouth, but she felt comfortable saying it and Evie looked comfortable hearing it.</p><p>“I found it my third year, <em>M</em>. It’s a magical room.”</p><p>“These are all magical rooms.”</p><p>“No, I mean, it always changes. It always has exactly what you need, whatever it is. And sometimes, it isn’t even here at all. The room <em>itself</em> is the magical part.”</p><p>Mal took a closer look around, focusing on the walls and floors instead of the clothing. It didn’t seem magical; it seemed like an oversized closet fit for a blueberry queen.</p><p>Evie must have read Mal’s mind because she quickly said “You need a Halloween costume! There must be a million in here, I’m sure we can find one that you like!”</p><p>Mal was absolutely sure that this was going to be more work than it was worth, but she let Evie drag her along as they went through different costumes. Some of them were obvious (“You just want me to be a bee so I’ll wear Hufflepuff colors!”) and some of them the girls couldn’t even guess what the room was trying to go for (“Is this a scarf or a belt?”).</p><p>At last, Mal found the perfect costume. She couldn’t stop cackling to herself as she looked in the mirror (which the room had also provided free of charge).</p><p>“Do the face! Do the face!” Evie squealed.</p><p>Mal scrunched up her face in a look of utter disappointment and dramatically rolled her eyes, giving as big a sigh as her lungs would allow her. There was no denying it; she was the spitting image of Professor McGonagall.</p><p>The girls collapsed in a heap of laughter together. When they were finally able to pull themselves together, they sat on a trunk of old witch’s hats facing the mirror. They took turns practicing their McGonagall impersonation until they got bored.</p><p>“What are you gonna be?” Mal asked Evie.</p><p>Evie smoothed the wrinkles out of her dress. “The Queen of Hearts.”</p><p>“I have absolutely no idea what that is.”</p><p>Evie rolled her eyes. “Your pure-blood status is showing. It’s a character from a Muggle movie. Alice in Wonderland?”</p><p>Mal shook her head. She hadn’t watched many movies that came from the Muggle world; any Muggle movie with a good plot was beyond ruined by the atrocious special effects. She much preferred wizard movies that didn’t have to rely on camera trickery.</p><p>“So,” Mal started, unsure of how to phrase her question without upsetting her friend, “you’re a Muggle-born?”</p><p>Evie shook her head. “Half-blood. Mom’s a witch. But dad and I watch Muggle movies all the time. Especially Alice in Wonderland. He likes that I can do Shrinking Spells in real life.”</p><p>“That’s sweet. You’re gonna be this Queen because he likes the movie?”</p><p>“That, yes, but I’m a different queen or princess every year. That’s what my mother likes. She says I was born for royalty.”</p><p>“You certainly act like it.”</p><p>“My mother wouldn’t tolerate anything less.”</p><p>Mal didn’t know what to say to that; they were quickly stepping into uncharted territory with a minefield of emotions Mal couldn’t begin to untangle. But she knew what it was like living under a mother with high expectations, and what to expect when those expectations were not met.</p><p>“I get it,” Mal said quietly, not daring to look Evie in the eyes. She knew that she would see her own emotions reflected back at her in the girl’s face and she wasn’t ready for it.</p><p>“Do you think you’re ready for McGonagall’s exam on Tuesday?” Evie seemed eager to change the subject and Mal was just as relieved to have something else to talk about.</p><p>“I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been. That’s not saying much, though, I didn’t even know about our last exam until she handed it out.”</p><p>“You’ll do great. I know you will.” Evie gave Mal a smile.</p><p>“I don’t need your Hufflepuff positivity; there’s still no chance of me passing.”</p><p>Evie put her hand on Mal’s shoulder and squeezed it. “M, you’ve got this. You’ve worked so hard; there’s no doubt in my mind that you will crush this exam.”</p><p>For a second, Mal almost believed her.</p><p>-</p><p>“This examination is not unlike the written exam you will see during your transfiguration O.W.L.” McGonagall explained as she used her wand to pass one exam from a stack of parchment to each student. “It will cover everything you have learned so far this year as well as from your previous years at Hogwarts. This will allow me to get an idea of your progress thus far and-“ she looked directly at Mal “-clue me in on any interventions required.”</p><p>Mal sighed as she flipped over the parchment and wrote her name at the top. She had known the exam would cover everything they had learned so far, but she didn’t do a very thorough job at studying earlier material.</p><p>
  <em> 1. What is the definition of Switching Spells?</em>
</p><p>Mal wrote ‘<em>switches 2 objects</em>’ underneath the question. What more could McGonagall want?</p><p>
  <em> 2. What are the five parts of the Transformation Formula?</em>
</p><p>Well fuck.</p><p>Mal tried her best to get through the entire exam. Some parts she found easy (thank goodness for Evie’s obsession with color-changing charms) and others, not so much (she couldn’t remember four of the letters in the Transfiguration Alphabet).</p><p>However hard she found some of the questions, she realized towards the end of the exam that she knew considerably more answers than she had just a couple of weeks ago. And she was nowhere near the last one done, which was certainly out of the ordinary. She even thought she saw McGonagall flash Mal a small smile when Mal turned in her exam, but it could have been her imagination; McGonagall wasn’t the type to smile at students.</p><p>Mal left the classroom with Uma right behind her. Uma caught up to Mal and slung her arm around Mal’s shoulder with Mal reciprocating as soon as she felt Uma’s touch.</p><p>“Halloween time!” Uma called out as loud as she could, surprising a small group of second years passing by them. “Let’s go put on some costumes and eat our weight in candy!”</p><p>The girls raced back to their room and quickly threw on their costumes. They stopped to look at themselves in the mirror and do some last-minute adjusting (and make some last-minute decisions as to which McGonagall face was best) before heading out to meet up with the rest of their friends.</p><p>They had to wait until dinner for the infamous Halloween feast, but their afternoon was filled with plans of eating every candy imaginable, admiring each other’s costumes, and playing tricks on some of the ghosts. There was even talk of some students going to find a boggart that had escaped and hidden itself away, but Mal had no desire to be yelled at by something posing as her mother, so she was staying clear.</p><p>While in the courtyard experimenting with a combination of Fizzing Wizzbees and exploding bon bons, they came across Peeves dropping Jack-o-lanterns off of the roof.</p><p>This was Mal’s moment. “Peeves!” she screamed using her best McGonagall voice. “You come down here this instant!”</p><p>It took her and her friends everything they had not to scream with laughter when the pumpkins abruptly stopped falling and the poltergeist’s head peeked out from the top of the castle. When he saw the group of children, he swooped down faster than Mal knew a ghost could.</p><p>“What’s this?” Peeves screeched as he looked Mal over from head to toe. “Itty bitty McGonagall? Screaming orders at Peeves?”</p><p>He flew over to where one of the pumpkins had landed. It had exploded into multiple pieces upon impact with the ground, but he scooped the pieces up into his hands with a tenderness Mal assumed Peeves only saved for his nastiest of tricks.</p><p>“Peeves cannot take down McGonagall when she is regular-sized. But an itty-bitty McGonagall is the perfect size for itty-bitty pumpkin pieces!”</p><p>And with that, he promptly chucked the biggest pumpkin piece directly towards Mal.</p><p>It would have hit her if Jay hadn’t pulled her away as they all started running as fast as they could back inside. All of them were screaming at the top of their lungs, Mal included, but as she looked around she saw that only Carlos was screaming in fear; everyone else had huge grins plastered onto their faces as they ducked and jumped over pumpkin pieces.</p><p>“Thank you for the treaties!” Peeves shouted at them as they ran through the door to the hallway inside.</p><p>“Oh, shit,” Uma said as she looked around. “Nobody grabbed the candy?”</p><p>Everyone took a second to look at every else’s empty hands before accepting defeat.</p><p>“Wha’s a fuckin’ ghost gonna do with candy anyway?” Harry spat at the door that Peeves was behind.</p><p>“It’s exploding candy, Harry,” Mal said. “He’ll probably drop it onto unsuspecting first years.”</p><p>Harry smiled. “The thought o’ tha’ makes me feel a wee bit better.”</p><p>It was time start making their way to the Great Hall anyway. The Frog Choir always sang before dinner was served, and while the singing wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, Mal spent each performance hoping a frog would somehow get loose.</p><p>When they arrived, they said their goodbyes to the friends from other houses and made their way to their respective tables. Uma and Mal found two spots towards the front of the table where Mal could get a good look at any runaway frogs.</p><p>The performance came and went without an incident and Dumbledore gave a speech that Mal didn’t listen to before the food appeared on the table and she was at the mercy of her own self-control.</p><p>It was either her third slice of pumpkin pie or her fourth when McGonagall made her way over to Mal. Mal didn’t even wait for a greeting from her professor, she was fully clad in McGonagall swag and she was taking this opportunity. “Good evening, Miss McGonagall,” she drawled in a McGonagall-like voice. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you are up to something.”</p><p>Unfortunately for Uma, she had a mouthful of corn at the time and proceeded to spit it out all over her plate as she burst out laughing.</p><p>This was the type of tomfoolery that McGonagall would turn her nose at, and Mal was ready for a lecture or, at the very least, the famous eye roll and sigh combination. But to her surprise, McGonagall seemed…amused. If you could call a blank face amused. But there was no denying the twinkle in her eye and the ever-so-slightly curving of her lips upwards into a smile.</p><p>“Good evening, Professor,” McGonagall nodded her head to Mal as a greeting. “I am simply enjoying a nice feast. And I wanted to say that I was rather impressed with a certain student’s examination. If you see her, do tell her that she has much to be proud of. I must be off now; I have some rounds to make. You enjoy yourselves, ladies.” And without waiting for a formal goodbye from her mini twin, she went on her way.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Uma said now that her mouth was empty, “I think I must be mistaken. It sounded like McGonagall gave you a compliment.”</p><p>Mal’s head was a whirlwind. Her first thought was that she couldn’t wait to tell Evie what had happened. Her second thought was that maybe she could do this whole school thing after all. And her third thought was wondering why the thought of Evie popped into her head so quickly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A Plan for Hogsmeade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We are ever so slightly starting to creep towards Mevie. Thanks for being patient<br/>Food mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The girl woke up to see the moon still shining bright in her window. Her eyes fluttered shut again, hoping to fall back asleep easily, but voices downstairs kept her from drifting off. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her mother rarely had company over, but as Mal laid in bed listening to the echoes from downstairs, she realized that recently her house was getting more and more visitors. She wondered who would ever want to see her mother: she certainly didn’t. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was no way she was going to sleep with all the commotion and her curiosity piqued, so she sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed. Her foot hit her trunk that was still packed with dirty robes and discarded parchment from Hogwarts. She hadn’t been home a week and she already couldn’t wait to go back; even with Jay just next door, her friends seemed a million miles away. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She got up and creeped out her door. The floorboards were creaky and could easily given her away, but after living here her whole life Mal had memorized the perfect route around the house to avoid detection. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She sat at the bottom of the stairs, just out of sight of the group lounging and talking in the living room (or what had once been a living room and was now mostly beat-up furniture, spell books, and rejected magical items). She heard her mother’s distinct, shrill voice along with two others Mal didn’t recognize. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“-around here somewhere!” That was her mother. “I don’t care if you have to search all of England!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s hard to search for something that may not exist.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“</em>
  <em>Of course it exists! I know it exists! And I want it! This staff won’t last me forever!” A blast of light illuminated the room and Mal knew her mother was fidgeting with her staff, a habit that pointed to Maleficent’s impatience. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>A pause. Maleficent’s company must have been familiar with her tells. Finally: “As you wish.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Scraping chairs indicated that the party was getting up. Mal ran up the stairs as fast and as silently as she could, just in time to avoid being seen as two tall, dark-haired men walked to the door with Maleficent in the lead. She opened the front door for them and stared them down with her piercing eyes as they walked past her to leave. She was far from happy tonight. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Without a word of goodbye, Maleficent slammed the door, shutting what appeared to be her servants out into the cold night. She lingered in the hall for a moment, stroking the staff she always held, before her steely eyes made their way up the staircase and to Mal doing her best to blend in with the iron railing. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s not polite to spy on people, my dear,” Maleficent said in an even tone. “You might get the wrong impression.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“They woke me up,” Mal responded. Best to put the blame on someone besides her mother. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mm, yes. It seems those two can’t get much right these days,” Maleficent walked back into the living room, leaving Mal to decide whether to follow her or not. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She always did. She flew down the stairs and peeked into the room, watching as Maleficent put down her staff for a moment to pick up a large and dusty book. She brushed the front cover off and traced the lettering. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What do you remember of our story times, darling?” Mal heard the honey dripping in Maleficent’s voice. It didn’t guarantee safety, but she still allowed herself to be drawn into the room until she stood next to her mother, eyes straining to see the book. Maleficent tilted it to allow Mal a glimpse: The Tales of Beedle the Bard. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We haven’t read from this in so long, my darling. Do you remember?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of course Mal remembered. She remembered being tucked into bed with her floating lights in the shape of constellations above her head, casting a shadow on her mother’s face as she sat next to the bed and read aloud every story in the book, over and over again until Mal had every word memorized. She remembered pretending to fall asleep and still, Maleficent read on, quiet and slow. And sometimes she really did fall asleep, but she still heard her mother’s voice in her dreams like a lullaby keeping her safe. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>But emotion was weakness, so all she did was nod. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Maleficent flipped the book open to a page that had long been dog-eared. On it was the start to “The Tale of Three Brothers”, the story Maleficent had perhaps told to Mal the most out of all of them. It was one of Mal’s favorites; she liked the youngest brother who had lived so wonderfully that he alone could treat Death as a friend. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“</em>
  <em>This was a favorite of ours, yes?” Maleficent said as she stroked Mal’s hair. “You used to root for the little brother and his Invisibility Cloak.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“And you liked the oldest brother and his wand,” Mal said, almost in a trance as she stared at the illustrations she had almost forgotten. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Maleficent smiled. “Yes, that’s right. But he was foolish, wasn’t he? He left himself vulnerable. What would you do with such a powerful wand, I wonder?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It wasn’t the first time Maleficent had posed the question, and it wasn’t the first time Mal had thought about it. What would she do with the Elder Wand? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She gave the same answer she always did, an answer she felt was safe to share: “The Elder Wand wouldn’t ever belong to me, so I wouldn’t be able to use it.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Maleficent’s smile grew wider, but not friendlier. “A dignified answer.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What would you do with it, Mother?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Maleficent closed the book and returned it to its resting place, all the time keeping her smile plastered on her face. “Oh, my darling, I think we shall see very soon.”</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>Halloween had come and gone, and November had brought colder days and longer nights. Mal had kept her conversation with McGonagall on the back burner until her next Transfiguration class just in case she was getting her hopes up for nothing.</p><p>But, to her surprise, when her exam flew onto her desk, she saw the word ‘Acceptable’ in large letters at the top of the paper.</p><p>Mal didn’t hear a single thing McGonagall said for the rest of the lesson, although for completely different reasons than normal.</p><p>When class was finally over, she practically dragged Uma to the Great Hall to find Evie during lunch. Uma called her a “fucking nerd” the whole way there, but there was a proud glint in her eyes and Mal wouldn’t have cared if Uma were serious anyway.</p><p>Mal made a beeline for the Hufflepuff table and spent a minute checking faces in the crowd of identically dressed students until she found Carlos halfway down the table with a group of other fifth years and no Evie in sight.</p><p>“Where’s Evie?”</p><p>“Hello to you, too.”</p><p>Mal sighed. “Hello. Where’s Evie?”</p><p>“She went to the library.”</p><p>Mal grabbed half of the sandwich from Carlos’ plate, took a bite, ruffled his hair, and gave a rushed “Thanks, Curly!” before turning around and leaving the way she came.</p><p>She found Evie secluded in their typical spot in the library when they needed absolutely zero distractions. The girl was drowning in textbooks opened to various pages and she was rubbing her temple with one hand and fiddling with her little mirror with the other while she read, a clear sign that it was time for a distraction.</p><p>Mal set the sandwich on top of the book Evie was currently reading. “I’ve got something to show you.”</p><p>Evie didn’t look up. “A sandwich with a bite taken out?”</p><p>“No, that’s just your lunch. Eat up.”</p><p>“It’s already got a bite in it.”</p><p>“I was just helping you get started. Take a look at this!” Mal whipped out her graded exam and slapped it on top of the sandwich for Evie to see.</p><p>Evie reacted considerably better to the exam results than the sandwich. She broke out into a huge smile as she grabbed the parchment and skimmed the questions. “This is great! I knew you could do it!”</p><p>Mal beamed, something only a select few ever got to see. “McGonagall didn’t roll her eyes once at me all class!”</p><p>“Well that’s how you know you’ve made it,” Evie said as she handed the exam back to Mal. “Seriously, this is really great, M.”</p><p>Mal stuffed the exam back in her bag. “Right, well, there’s no need to go on and on about it.” She wedged herself next to Evie on the chair and handed the sandwich to Evie to get a better look at the book.</p><p>“Arithmancy, eh? No wonder you have a headache.”</p><p>“Yes, well, I’m trying to study for an exam tomorrow.” Evie held the sandwich out for Mal to take back, but Mal made a grab for the hand mirror instead. She examined herself in it; she was the same crooked-toothed, tangled-hair girl she had always been.</p><p>“Why do you carry this thing around, anyway? You need to look good for all the books?”</p><p>Evie snatched the mirror out of Mal’s hand and quickly looked at herself in it before slipping it into her bag beside her. “Just because, okay? Mal, I really need to study.”</p><p>“As if the perfect princess could ever fail. Eat first, study later,” Mal pointed to the sandwich still in Evie’s hand as she took the book off of Evie’s lap and began flipping through the pages, stopping at anything that had big pictures accompanying it.</p><p>Evie quickly calculated the odds and came to the conclusion that she could get back to studying a lot faster if she complied, so she resigned to eating the sandwich as she listened to Mal comment on anything she found dumb about the subject of Arithmancy, which ended up being quite a lot.</p><p>“I can help you study this crap,” Mal decided as she finished flipping through the book. “I owe you, don’t I?”</p><p>“You don’t owe me anything. I’m not helping you because I want something out of it.”</p><p>“Yeah but I told you I’d repay you. And my word is good.”</p><p>Evie took a moment to size Mal up and consider what she was saying. “Alright. But we’re doing this my way.”</p><p>“Relax, princess. I’ve got this studying thing down; I’ve been doing it for three whole weeks.”</p><p>-</p><p>“You’re going to Hogsmeade on Saturday, aren’t you?” Uma asked Mal at dinner a few days later. The trip had just been announced for the following week and although Mal had given Uma permission to go without her before, she wasn’t ready to let that happen again.</p><p>“I don’t see why not; I am officially an Acceptable wizard,” Mal pointed out while also looking to Evie for confirmation. Mal was just as desperate to go on this trip as Uma, she swore she had forgotten the taste of Butterbeer.</p><p>That night they happened to be sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Evie, Carlos, Jay, and Harry. They had gotten some strange looks at first, mostly from the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, but Mal was learning to get over what other people thought of her. And it was much easier to snatch the last biscuit off the plate when all she was up against was a few polite Hufflepuffs.</p><p>“I think you’ll be fine,” Evie reassured her.</p><p>“We can stock up on more exploding bon bons to replace the ones Peeves stole,” Jay cut in with excitement.</p><p>Mal turned to Evie and Carlos. “Yeah, you guys definitely have to come with us to Honeydukes. That is,” she added quickly, “if you don’t already have plans with your other friends.”</p><p>Carlos looked down at his plate. “I can’t go.”</p><p>Mal had totally forgotten the conversation she had had with Carlos in the library when everyone else was in Hogsmeade. She had never asked why he didn’t have a permission slip (even she had boundaries) but whatever the reason, the result was the same.</p><p>The group was silent for a moment as everyone tried to think of something to say. This wasn’t Mal’s area of expertise, or so it had been explained to her, so she waited for someone else to say something. Then, while looking at the group of people she had chosen as friends, she realized it probably wasn’t anyone’s area of expertise and intervention might be necessary.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it, Curly,” she said in her most reassuring tone. “We’ll get you all the candy you want.”</p><p>The promise of candy was always a mood lifter in Mal’s experience, but Carlos didn’t look much better.</p><p>“Carlos, we can have our own fun in the castle,” Evie gave him a small pat on the back. Thank God someone in this group knew how to fucking handle emotions. Wait.</p><p>“You’re not coming to Hogsmeade?”</p><p>“I went last month. This time Carlos and I are gonna spend it together.”</p><p>“But you’ll miss the candy! And the Butterbeer! Okay, okay,” Mal changed her tactic after a stern glance from Evie. “It can’t be that hard to sneak Curly into Hogsmeade.”</p><p>Harry had long since tuned out of the conversation, but the mention of rule-breaking drew him back in fast. His eyes lit up at the mere thought of sneaking the small boy out of the castle. “Here’s the Mal ah’ve come to love!”</p><p>“Yeah, sound good to me,” Jay added.</p><p>Uma also gave a nod of approval.</p><p>Mal turned to Evie. “E, I’m sure you have something to say in protest to the idea.”</p><p>“Actually, no, not really. I’ve always found the whole permission slip rule pretty elitist.”</p><p>“It’s definitely not but we’re glad to have you. Curly?” Mal turned to Carlos. “You in?”</p><p>Carlos was the only one in the group who looked the least bit hesitant. “I don’t know. I can’t ask any of you to get in trouble for me.”</p><p>“Good thing you aren’t asking,” Jay pointed out.</p><p>“Yeah,” Uma added. “No one should miss out on Honeyduke’s.”</p><p>Mal had never seen Carlos so happy. “So, what’s the plan?”</p><p>Everyone looked at Mal. “Uh, I’m not too sure yet, Curly. But we’ll think of something.”</p><p>“What could we think of that hasn’t been tried already? I’m sure dozens of students have tried to sneak out, and I’ve never heard of anyone that’s actually done it.” Supportive just a moment ago, Evie’s comment was uncharacteristically negative, however valid her point might have been.</p><p>“Hey, where’s your Hufflepuff optimism?”</p><p>“There’s a difference between optimism and stupidity.”</p><p>“Ah’ve yet to see it,” Harry helpfully added. He earned a jab from Mal’s elbow for the comment.</p><p>Jay looked around him before leaning in and lowering his voice. Everyone else leaned in to hear him. “If we’re serious about this, we’ve gotta learn everything about this castle.”</p><p>“We could try <em>Hogwarts, A History</em>,” Carlos suggested.</p><p>Jay shook his head. “Everyone’s read that book and you don’t see any old first year sneaking out of here, do you? No, we’ve gotta get our information from somewhere that no one else would think to look, somewhere that has all of Hogwarts’ secrets for us to exploit.”</p><p>Mal groaned. She knew exactly where to go.</p><p>-</p><p>They found Peeves after dinner in the dungeons. He was busy releasing Doxys in the hallway outside the door of the Slytherin common room and didn’t notice them until Harry slapped a curious Doxy out of his face and into the wall nearby with an echoing knock.</p><p>Peeves turned around and grinned from ear to ear when he saw who it was. “More treaties for Peeves?” he asked in his usual shrill voice.</p><p>The group had decided at dinner that Mal would be the spokesperson for the group, so she stepped forward to address the poltergeist. “We need your help.”</p><p>That earned a laugh from Peeves. As he threw his head back, his whole body followed, and he ended up upside down as he howled. It was more than off-putting, but dealing with off-putting people, or ghosts, was Mal’s specialty.</p><p>She waited for him to finish his theatrics. He eventually calmed himself down, positioned himself right side up, and wiped away a fake tear as he continued the conversation. “Peeves doesn’t help, ickle Mally!”</p><p>“Come on, Peeves, everyone wants something. What’s it gonna take?”</p><p>Peeves took an unexpected moment to think about what Mal had offered. She could see the possibilities flickering through his head like a movie from one scene to the next, thinking about all the things he could have Mal do. For a moment, she regretted posing the theory.</p><p>“What do you want from little ol’ Peeves?”</p><p>“A way to sneak out. And back in, I guess. Just for the day. You’ve got to know the castle better than anyone.”</p><p>“And what if I were to tell you such a thing didn’t exist?”</p><p>“I’d say you were full of shit.”</p><p>Another laugh from Peeves. “Maybe Peeves does know a way.” He stopped at that to try and get a reaction out of Mal. When none came, he continued. “Maybe Peeves has seen a sneaky student or two over the years. They go out, they come back. Maybe Peeves could remember the way.” He stopped for good after that, waiting for Mal to ask the price.</p><p>She did. “What’s it gonna cost?”</p><p>Peeves took his time pretending to think it over, drawing out his questioning hums as he scratched his head and furrowed his brow. At last, he shared the conclusion he had come to long before. “A favor.”</p><p>“A what?”</p><p>“A favor from little Mally, that’s all Peeves asks. To cash in when I need it the most.”</p><p>Evie grabbed Mal’s shoulder from behind her and leaned in to whisper in her ear. Mal could feel Evie’s breath as she hissed through her teeth. “Don’t do it, M. You don’t know what he’ll ask; he could get you into serious trouble.”</p><p>But Mal wasn’t going to back down. “A favor. For getting Carlos to Hogsmeade and back safely.” She extended her hand to Peeves to shake on it.</p><p>Peeves smiled and flipped through the air a couple times. “Yes! Yes! Peeves will do it! Meet Peeves by the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom come Saturday morning!” He went to shake Mal’s hand before she pulled it back, staring him down into his small, beady eyes.</p><p>“And Peeves? If he gets caught, no favor.”</p><p>Peeves flew forward and grabbed Mal’s hand. Or, rather, did his best to position his hand in a way that didn’t go through hers. “Yes! Yes! We agree!” They both mimed shaking one another’s hand before Peeves flew off, undoubtably to find more Doxys.</p><p>“Can we get out of here now?” Uma asked as she swatted a Doxy away seconds before it bit her arm.</p><p>No one was going to argue, so they all filed back upstairs out of the dungeon to let someone else stumble upon Peeves’ mess.</p><p>Carlos grabbed Mal’s hand. “Thanks,” was the only thing he said, but it meant more to Mal than she thought it ever could have.</p><p>“Don’t mention it, Curly,” she said as she ruffled his long curls. He allowed it for a moment before bounding ahead to catch up with Evie at the front of the group.</p><p>It was Uma’s turn to grab Mal. She held her arm as they walked side by side, barely a hair’s width apart. Uma spoke low enough so that only Mal could hear what she had to say. “A favor for Peeves, huh? All for some Hufflepuff?”</p><p>“Carlos isn’t just some Hufflepuff- he’s our friend.”</p><p>“That isn’t the Hufflepuff I’m talking about.”</p><p>“What are you on?”</p><p>“Oh, come on! You wouldn’t have cared less where Carlos spent his time if he weren’t dragging Evie along with him.”</p><p>“That is not true!”</p><p>“Just ask Evie out already!”</p><p>“Are you fucking mental? Why would I do that?”</p><p>“Because she’s got your ass whipped and you might as well get something out of it.”</p><p>Mal slapped Uma on the arm, but Uma was unfazed. She slapped Mal back and hissed “Think about it!” before running ahead to join Harry and Jay and leaving Mal by herself with a lot of thoughts to sort out.</p><p>-</p><p>Early Saturday morning before they had to meet in the courtyard for the trip, Mal met Evie and Carlos outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom just like Peeves had instructed. The rest of the gang had gone straight to the courtyard to avoid raising any suspicion from vigilant professors.</p><p>Peeves arrived a few minutes after they did. He clapped when he saw the trio and flew right at them, stopping inches from their faces in what must have been Peeves’ attempt at being sneaky.</p><p>All he said was “Follow Peeves!” before flying off again, although not nearly as fast to allow the humans to keep up. Mal thought they were in for a long game of Follow the Poltergeist from the way Peeves was acting, but they stopped before even reaching the next classroom door.</p><p>They had stopped in front of the one-eyed witch statue. Mal knew it was there, but after getting over the one-eye thing, it lost any real sense of remarkability and was easily looked over by passing students in the hallway.</p><p>“Wand! We need a wand!” Peeves shrieked, as if they were supposed to have already figured out that they should take out a wand.</p><p>Carlos took his out and looked at Peeves questioningly. With increasing irritability that he had to give the directions step by step, Peeves shouted “Tap the hump! Say Dissendium!”</p><p>On any other day, Peeves shouting would have attracted the attention of several students and at least three worried professors, but the hallway was completely empty, and they were safe from detection.</p><p>Carlos followed Peeves’ orders and whispered “Dissendium!” to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.</p><p>The witch’s hump opened up just enough for someone to squeeze through. The three students peered through it, but it was too dark, or too long, or both, to see the other side.</p><p>“Where does it lead?” Mal asked Peeves.</p><p>“To treaties! Lots of yummy treaties!”</p><p>“Honeydukes.” Evie and Mal said at the same time. In an amazing role reversal, Evie and Mal were looking considerably more nervous about the whole ordeal than Carlos.</p><p>“Are you sure about this, Carlos?” Evie asked him.</p><p>Carlos nodded. “I want to go to Hogsmeade.”</p><p>Mal nodded. “Alright. Stay at Honeydukes, we’ll meet you there.”</p><p>Carlos nodded before slipping into the witch’s hump. As soon as he was through, the statue closed up again and their friend was swallowed inside.</p><p>Mal turned to Peeves who was gleefully watching the whole scene. “Remember, you don’t get a favor if he gets caught.”</p><p>“Yes, yes, Peeves remembers! And Peeves wants a favor!” He flew around Mal and Evie’s heads for a couple laps before flying off again.</p><p>“He’ll be okay,” Mal said aloud, although it was more for herself than Evie.</p><p>Evie nodded and they both made their way to the courtyard to join the crowd going to Hogsmeade the more conventional way.</p><p>Mal worried about Carlos the whole walk to the village. The group had agreed not to talk about him to avoid accidently revealing his whereabouts, but that left Mal alone with her anxieties. She had considered the possibility that Peeves was setting them up and had taken the risk anyway, but what if she was right and Carlos was walking into a trap? Or maybe Peeves hadn’t set them up and Carlos would get caught anyway? Were there magical detectors in the passage that even Peeves didn’t know about?</p><p>Relief pnly came when they entered Honeydukes and there was Carlos, in one piece, with his arms filled with candy. He smiled at them and attempted a wave, but two boxes of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans threatened to fall.</p><p>“You got enough candy there, Curly?” Uma asked him as she took some from his arms, relieving him of his load and giving him the opportunity to grab more Acid Pops from the shelf on the wall.</p><p>“Evie always buys me candy when she comes here, now I can buy it for her!”</p><p>Evie laughed. “I can’t eat all that! We can split it.”</p><p>Carlos beamed. He led Uma around the rest of the store, instructing her what to grab for him until Uma’s hands were full too. The two of them made their way to the register with the rest of the kids and their armfuls of candy.</p><p>Mal, Jay, and Harry were quick to grab what they wanted. At this point into their friendship, they didn’t even have to discuss what they were buying and how they would divvy up the shares. Mal made a grab for all the chocolates they would want while Harry and Jay combed through any trick sweets. Uma was in charge of other candies, but since she literally had her hands full with Carlos, Mal made a special stop to pick up some Licorice Wands and boxes of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean.</p><p>The store was swamped with kids replenishing their candy stock, so they all met outside when they were done buying their treats. Uma had already broken into a Chocolate Quill, and Evie and Carlos were sharing some fudge.</p><p>“Where should we go next?” Carlos asked.</p><p>“Three Broomsticks?” Mal posed to everyone. There was a general sense of agreement, so they all made their way down to the cozy little tavern. They were about to go in when Jay stopped just outside the door.</p><p>“What’s the matter?” Mal asked.</p><p>“You know, I almost forgot. Tommy told Harry and me that Zonko’s just started selling trick brooms. We’ve gotta get down there before they all sell out!”</p><p>“Yer absolutely right, Jay. We’ve gotta go now, haven’t we?”</p><p>“You’re absolutely right, Harry. Uma, wanna join?”</p><p>“Yeah, that sounds great! Carlos, I bet you’d like to see Zonko’s- you should come with us!”</p><p>Carlos was not up to date on what was happening. “We can always go later, can’t we?”</p><p>Uma started pulling on his arm. “No, it has to be right now. We won’t be long, Evie and Mal can save us a table.”</p><p>And before Carlos could say anything else, Uma dragged him away with Jay and Harry in tow, on their way to look at trick brooms that Mal seriously doubted even existed.</p><p>If Evie seemed fazed by the odd behavior, she didn’t let on. She opened the door for Mal and gestured for her to go inside.</p><p>The tavern was packed with Hogwarts students and all the big tables were taken by groups of friends, so Mal and Evie had to settle for a small table by the wall.</p><p>The girls had been alone many times before this without it being awkward, but now Mal didn’t know what to do or say. The only thing she wanted to do with any certainty was strangle every last one of her friends.</p><p>“Sorry about them,” Mal started.</p><p>“No, don’t even worry about it. They’ll come back when they’re done.”</p><p>Mal wasn’t as sure.</p><p>Madame Rosmerta looked ready to pass out as she flew from table to table, taking orders and delivering food and drinks seamlessly, even during the rush of a Hogsmeade visit. Despite the room always being packed whenever Mal was there, she never had to wait long for Madame Rosmerta to come and take their order.</p><p>“What’ll you girls have?”</p><p>Evie answered for both of them. “Just two Butterbeers, please.”</p><p>“Of course, angel. Coming right up.” And she was off again, ending the only competent conversation the girls had had since stepping into the tavern.</p><p>“How’d you Arithmancy exam go?” Mal eventually asked.</p><p>“Oh, pretty good. I managed to get an Exceeds Expectations, even with all of your, uh, help.”</p><p>“I’m sorry? I think you mean <em>because</em> of my help! We studied from that book for, like, an hour!”</p><p>“All you did was read from it and interrupt yourself every five minutes to complain about the subject.”</p><p>“In my defense, Arithmancy is stupid. Why do you even take it?”</p><p>Evie shrugged. “I don’t know. To become a better witch, I suppose. And it can be interesting, once you get past all the technical terms.”</p><p>“Well, good for you. I’m proud of you, kid.” Mal did not know where that remark came from, but it made Evie blush, and Mal was almost positive it was in a good way.</p><p>She kept it going. “Seriously, you’re, like, perfect. I doubt McGonagall’s ever rolled her eyes at you.”</p><p>“Trust me, I’m not perfect,” Evie said with an almost bitter tone in her voice. Once again, Mal had accidently steered the conversation into a dangerously emotional territory that she had no idea how to navigate. Or get out of.</p><p>“Well, I just mean, you’re real good at school. You always know everything.”</p><p>That didn’t seem to help Evie’s mood at all, so Mal made the first smart decision in her life and shut up.</p><p>Luckily, their drinks came moments later and Mal had an excuse to use her mouth for other purposes. But silence wasn’t something Mal was used to when it came to being around Evie and it began to get to Mal.</p><p>“You’re not mad at me, are you? Did I say something wrong?”</p><p>Evie sighed into her drink. “I could never be mad at you. I mean, except for when I was mad at you. It’s just, I don’t know, sometimes I drive myself crazy keeping up with this image I have. Look at you, you don’t give a single shit what anybody thinks of you.”</p><p>“Is that another dig at my hair?”</p><p>Evie laughed and Mal could see the worry drain from her face. “No, I think it’s really nice. I think I’d be a lot happier if I didn’t care what people thought of me. I mean, I have to be the best witch there ever was, and I’m not even doing it for myself.”</p><p>“Who are you doing it for, then?”</p><p>“I’m not sure. Everyone around me, I guess. Lots of people talk to me, and I have all these friends, but if I acted different, I don’t think I would.”</p><p>This was a completely different side to Evie that Mal had never seen before, that Mal couldn’t even imagine. She never suspected the blueberry queen of having insecurities because, well, there was nothing to be insecure <em>about</em>.</p><p>“Don’t be stupid, E. You’re never getting rid of Carlos, yeah?”</p><p>Evie smiled at that thought. “Yeah, he’s really great.”</p><p>“And I don’t care if you go senile before year six, we’ll still be friends.”</p><p>“I thought you were only hanging out with me for my brains?” It was a joke, but just barely. There was an underlying truth that Evie was showing Mal, and however hidden it might have been, it was still on Evie’s mind.</p><p>“Nah, I’ve got this Transfiguration situation handled by now.”</p><p>Another laugh from Evie. “Oh yeah? You can study all by yourself now?”</p><p>“No, but I’ve got the costume, haven’t I? If McGonagall fails me, I’ll just replace her and give myself an Outstanding.”</p><p>It was nice to see Evie in a good mood again, and it made Mal feel all warm inside knowing that she had the power to make it happen. Evie had given her so much in the past few weeks, and it made Mal feel better that she was at least good for something.</p><p>The girls finished their Butterbeers, paid at the counter, and completely forgot to wait for the rest of their friends. They left the Three Broomsticks and wandered around Hogsmeade, pointing out to each other all the places they liked to visit. And when a particularly cold gust of November wind made Evie shiver and put her hands in her armpits for warmth, Mal took her hand and held it for the rest of the afternoon without a second thought.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Flashbacks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Flashback city folks.<br/>Weight mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The girl played nervously with her robes as she walked with Professor Slughorn down the hall. She had never been to Dumbledore’s office before, in fact she hadn’t even known it was on this floor, but she had been summoned, and that was a meeting even Mal couldn’t avoid.</em>
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  <em>She trotted next to Slughorn silently, wondering in her head what she could have possibly done to have caught the attention of the headmaster himself. She hadn’t done anything worse than usual, even her latest scuffle had already been sorted out by Slughorn. Unless, of course, you counted the situation with the Bowtruckles, but who could possibly blame her for that?</em>
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  <em>They stopped by one of the many gargoyles that decorated the hallway, so unassuming that Mal would have missed it entirely if she had been on her own. Slughorn cleared his throat to begin speaking. Mal prepared herself for the lecture or warning she was about to receive, but all Slughorn said was: “Treacle Fudge.”</em>
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<p>
  <em>It was certainly the weirdest piece of advice Mal had received, but it became clear that the words were not for her when the gargoyle beside them began turning and rising, revealing a narrow, spiral staircase.</em>
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  <em>“Off you go, then,” Slughorn gestured to the rising stars. “Best not to keep the Headmaster waiting.” And off he went, not even bothering to stick around and ensure that Mal kept her appointment.</em>
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  <em>Moving staircases were not rare in Hogwarts, so Mal was not fazed as she stepped up and began rising with the stairs to the mysterious office above.</em>
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  <em>Mal was equal parts in awe and disappointed at the Headmaster’s office. On one hand, it was just an office and not floating in a black hole like Mal would have suspected. On the other, no part of the room would be found in any other office in the world, even in the magical community. Dozens of silver instruments cluttered the room whirring and whizzing away, books were busy sorting themselves on the shelves lining the walls, and here and there notes would fly through the air and land in a new spot, although Mal wasn’t sure how they decided where they should be at that time. And to top it all off, a gigantic phoenix was sitting on a perch next to a desk as if it were a perfectly normal place for a sentient fire-bomb.</em>
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<p>
  <em>“Hello,” a voice from behind Mal greeted her. She spun around to see one of the portraits smiling and waving at her. In fact, most of the portraits on the wall were looking at her with some amount of curiosity.</em>
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<p>
  <em>“Hello,” Mal answered back.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“You’re not here to cause trouble, are you?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Now, now Ambrose, I’ve told you many times to stop greeting students that way.” Dumbledore’s voice was stern as he addressed the portrait from his desk but light and welcoming as he turned to the girl. “Mal, do come in.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal walked in and sat in a chair across from Dumbledore. The phoenix stood perched next to her and she could feel its heat on the side of her face. She wondered if birds could give people sunburns.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore seemed to read her mind. “Fawkes will do you no harm. You’d be surprised to hear, I bet, that it is humans who do far more damage to phoenixes than they could ever do to us.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal didn’t believe him in the least.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore continued on. “I wonder if you know why I’ve called you here today.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal stayed silent. She knew it was best never to admit anything, especially when she couldn’t think of much to admit to for a change.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Lemon drop?” Dumbledore gestured to a bowl on his desk filled with yellow candies. “Have you ever had one? They are a Muggle candy. I find that sometimes the best treats are the simplest ones.” He popped one of his own in his mouth and began turning it over in his mouth with his tongue.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal didn’t take one. She continued to stare at Dumbledore with as neutral a face as she could muster up in a room with a nighttime sky complete with twinkling stars for a ceiling.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore smiled as he finished his lemon drop. “You’re in your second year at Hogwarts now. Tell me, how do you like it?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“It’s fine.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Well, I hear you are staying with us for the Christmas holiday, so it must be more than fine.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“My mom told me to stay. She’s got stuff to do.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Hm. What could be so important that it can’t wait until after Christmas?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal thought it was one of those questions that adults asked that they ended up answering for themselves, but Dumbledore let the question linger in the air as he continued to stare at Mal and she realized he was waiting for her to answer.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She shrugged. “She never tells me anything.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore popped another candy in his mouth. “Surely you have figured out by now that there is considerably more to any story than what we’re told. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a sweet?” He offered her the bowl again. This time, she took a lemon drop from the pile but chose to hold onto it instead of eating it.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“When is the last time you’ve spoken to your mother?” Dumbledore continued the interrogation. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Again, Mal shrugged. She had come to stop looking for Diablo when the owl post came to Hogwarts; he had yet to show up.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Can I ask a favor from you, Mal? Can I ask that should your mother contact you, you let me know?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Why?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore sighed and although it was obvious that it wasn’t directed at her, Mal made a mental note to check Dumbledore off her list of Hogwarts staff she knew how to annoy. “Mal, I am sure that you, more than anyone, are aware of the type of wizards your mother associates with.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It was true; her mother’s associates were less than ideal friends, and over the summer Mal had seen more comings and goings from her house than ever before, each witch or wizard more intense than the last. She had done her absolute best to steer clear of all of them.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“And” Dumbledore continued, “I would like to be in-the-know of anything that might be happening. Especially if it concerns my school. Can you understand that?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal nodded, and the sentiment was genuine, although she couldn’t imagine her mother having any interest in a school. But she understood that she had no way of knowing the intentions of any of Maleficent’s friends, so to speak, and maybe Dumbledore saw that Mal’s position in her mother’s life may give him the best chance of staying ahead of them.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore stood up and Mal followed suit. He walked around the desk and took Mal by the shoulder to guide her back to the spiral staircase. “I’m very grateful for your help. Oh, and Mal?’ He added the last part as the girl started spinning downwards, so she had to turn around to hear what he had to say.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Perhaps a small break from the Bowtruckles would be wise.”</em>
</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>            Mal was at inch eleven of her Transfiguration essay on Vanishing Spells while Evie sat across from her, lost in a chapter about fairies and only occasionally coming up for air to make a note in her notebook. Neither girl had spoken in a while, but the silence was comfortable, and it was easier for Mal to stay focused when Evie was mere inches away, ready to scold her if she got off-task.</p>
<p>            They had made themselves at home in the Room of Requirement. After Halloween, the two girls spent all off their study sessions in there as long as they were alone. It felt more welcoming than the Transfiguration classroom and had the added bonus of being off of everyone’s radar. It was a secret spot that was just for them.</p>
<p>“Oh, <em>shit</em>.”</p>
<p>That was only the second time that Mal had ever heard Evie swear, so she looked up expecting something to be on fire. Everything seemed fine.</p>
<p>“What is it?”</p>
<p>“We missed curfew.”</p>
<p>“No fucking way; there was no announcement!”</p>
<p>“Maybe we can’t hear it in here. Look- it’s ten o’clock.”</p>
<p>Evie tilted her wrist to show Mal her watch. There was no denying it: they had missed curfew. Filch was no doubt patrolling the hallways with his insane fucking cat, on high alert and ready to catch any student on their way to bed after losing track of the time.</p>
<p>“So now what?” Mal asked.</p>
<p>Evie peered over at Mal’s paper. “Have you finished your essay?”</p>
<p>“No. Have you finished your chapter?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Mal decided, “there’s no point in getting in trouble with Filch tonight <em>and</em> with our professors tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“Are you suggesting we actually finishing working?” There was a teasing glint in Evie’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Only if the Hufflepuff is cool with breaking a rule or two.”</p>
<p>Evie answered by going back to her work. Mal studied her for a moment- the way she held her quill, how she bit her lip while she read, the loose hair that fell next to her face- before returning to Vanishing Spells.</p>
<p>She finished her essay and looked up to see Evie staring at her, fairies long forgotten.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Nothing,” Evie quickly answered and looked back down at her book. “I was just wondering if you would be willing to help me study for this exam on fairies.”</p>
<p>“I thought you didn’t like the way I helped you.”</p>
<p>“I’m desperate. And you need to know about this stuff too, you know!”</p>
<p>Mal reached out and grabbed Evie’s book to look through. Mal did much better in Defense Against the Dark Arts than Care of Magical Creatures because she was fascinated by the element of danger that flobberworms couldn’t give her, but she wasn’t bad with creatures.</p>
<p>“Alright, what have we got here? Fairies, eh? Nasty little shits.”</p>
<p>“Fairies are sweet!”</p>
<p>Mal rolled her eyes. “That’s exactly what a Muggle would say. The only things a fairy cares about is itself and getting as many compliments as possible.”</p>
<p>Evie grabbed the book back from Mal. “Well I bet fairies wouldn’t like you very much either.”</p>
<p>“That’s not a hypothetical- fairies and I don’t have a good track record.”</p>
<p>Evie snorted. “I’m not surprised.” She turned to a page further in the chapter ad handed the book back to Mal. “Here, make yourself useful and quiz me on the uses of fairies’ wings.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Mail’s here!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The shout came from a fourth-year boy sitting across from Mal, but the exclaim was useless. Despite his shouting, he still managed to be drowned out by the sound of flapping wings and the screeching of dozens of owls as they swept into the Great Hall and began dropping packages and letters in front of students trying to eat breakfast.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>When Mal first arrived at Hogwarts, she loved looking up and watching the storm of owls flying to deliver the mail. And when the novelty wore off, she still looked up hoping for a glimpse of the old great grey Diablo that had served her mother for as long as Mal had been alive. But as time wore on and Diablo failed to show day in and day out, Mal learned to stop looking up.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Imagine her surprise when a letter fell down from above her head and landed dangerously close to her bowl of cereal. She looked up just in time to see massive grey wings disappear in the sea of birds and back out the window of the castle.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The owl must have made a mistake- the letter was surely meant for someone else. But there was no mistaking her mother’s handwriting as the name </em>
  <strong>Mal </strong>
  <em>was scrawled out on the envelope.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Who’s it from?” Uma asked while busily unwrapping a package from her own mother: more saltwater taffy, no doubt.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“My mom.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>At the mention of Mal’s mother, Uma knew instantly to shut up. The topic was rarely spoken about and, as little as Uma knew about Mal’s mother, she knew enough never to mention her. It wasn’t hard to do; she seemed so out of Mal’s life that there was never a reason to bring her up.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal hadn’t forgotten about her conversation with Dumbledore a couple months ago, but it had moved further and further to the back of her mind due to inactivity. Now, it was all she was thinking about as she stared at her name written on her first piece of mail. Dumbledore hadn’t asked to actually see any letters, he just wanted to know about them.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She opened the letter without another thought. The parchment inside spelled exactly like her living room back home. She unfolded the note and read:</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>My Darling,</p>
<p>It’s been far too long. How have you been? How is Hogwarts? Please write back and tell me all about it. I’m ever so anxious to hear from you.</p>
<p>Mother</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal read the five sentences over and over again until her cereal turned soggy and inedible. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it. Maleficent had never taken an interest in Mal’s studies before, except for lamenting about how Mal hadn’t learned any of the more powerful spells in her first year.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>After she had dissected every possible meaning her mother could have had behind the letter (and not coming to any solid conclusions), she realized she had two decisions to make: should she tell Dumbledore about the letter, and should she even write back?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It was easy enough to decide that it would do no harm to let Dumbledore know about the letter- there was nothing devious about a mother catching up with her daughter, after all.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She said her goodbyes to Uma and the other girls she was sitting with and made her way to the hallway filled with gargoyles, staring at the letter as she walked the entire time. She stopped at the gargoyle she recognized as the entrance to Dumbledore’s office.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Treacle Fudge,” she said to the statue. Nothing happened.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Treacle. Fudge.” She said again. The statue only stared blankly back at her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Treacle fudge, dammit!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I’m afraid the password changed quite some time ago.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal spun around to see Dumbledore walking up to her with a muffin in his hand. It was already half-eaten, but she could have guessed that by the number of crumbs in his beard.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I came to talk to you.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“And I’m very glad that you did. How may I be of service?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal held out her letter for Dumbledore to see. “My mom sent me this.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore let go of the muffin to take the parchment from Mal. She watched as the muffin simply floated in place while Dumbledore quickly read the note. He returned it to her and grabbed the muffin again, taking another bite out of it and adding to the collection of crumbs stuck to his face.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Thank you for letting me know.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“That’s it?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I beg your pardon?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I don’t get to know why you care so much about my mother?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“If I gave you an explanation, could you honestly tell me that you would be satisfied?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>What the everloving fuck was that supposed to mean? Dumbledore walked past Mal as she attempted to figure out how to respond to him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Lemon drop,” Dumbledore told the statue. It immediately began rising to reveal the spiral staircase.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Dumbledore turned to face Mal before heading up the stairs. “I must admit, I fell in love with them.” And with that, he was gone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Mal was left to wander back to her room. It was Sunday, so she didn’t have any classes, but her giant pile of books on her desk reminded her of all the work she had to do. She pushed them all off the desk and let them fall to the floor, making room for the letter.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She sat at her desk and stared at the note some more. Her mind wandered away from the words on the page and she thought of what Maleficent was doing right at this very moment. Was she thinking of Mal? Was she writing more letters? Was she stroking Diablo for a job well done? And why did Dumbledore care?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She took out her quill and ink and a blank piece of parchment.</em>
</p>
<p>Dear Mother<em>, she began to write.</em></p>
<p>-</p>
<p>            Mal woke up disoriented and unsure of where she was. She looked at the book she was using as a pillow and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she remembered she was in the Room of Requirement. She didn’t remember falling asleep; the last thing she remembered was quizzing Evie on fairies.</p>
<p>            Evie. Mal noticed her across the table, her head resting on her arm as she slept. Her brow was furrowed even in sleep, and she was mumbling something under her breath that Mal couldn’t make out.</p>
<p>            As Mal looked closer, she sensed something was off. She focused on Evie’s cheeks- they were wet with tears. Mal stood up with concern and realized there was an extra set of robes placed around her shoulders with a Hufflepuff insignia on the side. She took them off and wrapped them back around Evie’s shoulders, feeling the girl shake underneath her hands.</p>
<p>            “Hey, it’s okay,” Mal whispered as she pulled Evie’s blue hair out from under the robes and tucked it behind her ears. She pulled a chair as close to the girl as possible and sat down, all the while stroking Evie’s hair. “it’s okay- you’re safe.”</p>
<p>            Evie woke with a start and her head immediately shot up. Mal pulled her hand away from Evie’s hair and grabbed her hand instead. “E, you’re okay,” she said as she used her thumb to gently rub the top of Evie’s hand.</p>
<p>            Evie looked down at Mal’s hand holding hers. The fear in her eyes was starting to ebb as she slowly realized where she was, but her brow remained furrowed. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry.” She pulled her hand away from Mal’s and put her robe back on properly. Neither girl acknowledged that Mal had been wearing it at one point.</p>
<p>            “Do you wanna talk about it?” Mal asked quietly.</p>
<p>            “There’s nothing to talk about,” Evie answered. She wiped her eyes dry and smoothed out her hair, doing anything to avoid having to look Mal’s way.</p>
<p>            Mal studied the girl as she worked to maintain the charade of a perfect little princess even still with the breach in identity. Evie tied herself in knots trying to convince everyone that she was perfect and Mal couldn’t understand why. Everyone had insecurities, sure, but Evie took it to the extreme. Mal suspected that Evie was herself around Carlos, and Mal was just starting to see Evie relax when they were alone together, but other than that, there was no one for Evie to show herself to. When she out in public, Evie wasn’t herself. She wasn’t Evie.</p>
<p>            Mal grabbed Evie’s hand a little harder than she meant to and pulled until their hands were practically touching Mal’s chest, causing Evie’s whole body to turn and face Mal. “E, you can talk to me. Please.”</p>
<p>            Evie’s eyes welled up with tears again and she trembled as she tried to keep them from falling down her face. “It’s just a lot, you know?”</p>
<p>            In the dark, Mal fumbled for her wand on the table beside her. “Lumos,” she whispered, and she used her newfound ability to see to wipe Evie’s tears away with her hand. Evie’s face was freezing, or maybe it was just that Mal was burning up.</p>
<p>            Like a magnetic pull, Evie leaned into Mal’s touch as she continued on, interrupted only by the occasional sniffle. “It’s just- it’s just, I try so hard and it’s not enough. It’ll never be enough…” She trailed off and Mal could see she was losing Evie to her thoughts.</p>
<p>            “Hey,” she said quietly but sharply, pulling Evie back to her. “You are enough. Exactly as you are, okay? And I’ll fucking punch anyone who makes you feel otherwise.”</p>
<p>            “You’re gonna get yourself killed one of these days.”</p>
<p>            “At least it’ll be for a good cause.”</p>
<p>            Mal’s hand was still resting on Evie’s face. Evie took it off and held Mal’s hand in hers, playing with the different rings Mal always wore on her fingers. She was desperate for a distraction. “Where’d you get all these?”</p>
<p>            “My mother, mostly.”</p>
<p>            Mal felt Evie stiffen at the mention of mothers, but she didn’t let up inspecting the rings and fidgeting with the bigger ones. She was focused on one in particular: a black dragon wrapped around Mal’s middle finger. “What about this one?”</p>
<p>            “Yeah, that one too. My mom said it’s enchanted, but I’ve never seen it do anything.”</p>
<p>            “What’s it supposed to do?”</p>
<p>            Mal hesitated. “She told me it would burn me if I disobeyed her.”</p>
<p>            Evie paused at that. Then she carefully slid the dragon ring off of Mal’s finger and kissed the now-empty spot on Mal’s knuckles before returning the ring to its place. The gesture left Mal speechless, which was just as well, because nothing Mal would have said at that moment would have made any sense to anyone, herself included.</p>
<p>            It was Evie that broke the silence. Her voice was so small and so quiet that Mal almost missed the words. “At home, my mom locks me in our basement when I upset her. When I get a bad grade, or she thinks I’ve gained weight- anything.”</p>
<p>            Mal tried to make eye contact with Evie, to search for a reason that Evie was telling her this, but Evie stayed fixated on Mal’s dragon ring. Neither girl said anything, and the silence wasn’t comfortable, or awkward: it was heavy.</p>
<p>            “She can’t hurt you here, you know,” Mal whispered, although she didn’t know why the quiet voice was necessary.</p>
<p>            “Neither can your mom,” Evie whispered back.</p>
<p>            “I don’t know; sometimes, it feels like she has eyes everywhere.”</p>
<p>            Evie nodded. If anyone understood that sentiment, it was her. Mal felt numb and she wasn’t sure if it was her own vulnerabilities or Evie’s that was causing it, but either way it left her frozen and unsure of what to do.</p>
<p>            Evie had the answer. She practically dove into Mal’s arms as she enveloped Mal into the tightest hug Mal had ever received. It should have been awkward because Mal was sitting in a chair, but Evie sat on Mal’s lap and wrapped her legs around the back of the chair, and it felt exactly like two puzzle pieces fitting together. Mal wrapped her arms around Evie and started stroking her hair again as she felt Evie’s face push deeper into her chest.</p>
<p>            They stayed like that until Mal felt Evie’s breathing getting slower. Mal stood up with Evie still wrapped around her and sat the girl on the table before untangling their arms, causing a sleepy protest from Evie.</p>
<p>            “Shh- it’s okay,” Mal said as she took off her Slytherin robe and balled it up into a pillow for Evie. She guided Evie’s head down as Evie’s eyes fluttered shut again and she curled up onto the table., fast asleep in an instant.</p>
<p>            Mal laid down next to Evie and wrapped her arms around the girl once again. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest, but she closed her eyes and forced her breathing to match Evie’s, feeling the rise and fall of her stomach under her hand.</p>
<p>            “Nothing’s gonna hurt us tonight, E,” Mal whispered before she drifted off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            <em>“Do not forget your permission forms; no one will be allowed to Hogsmeade without one.”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>            For once in her life, Mal wasn’t worried. Her mother had signed the permission form for Hogsmeade before Mal had even left for school and had even reminded Mal to pack it in her trunk.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            She had spent the past two years hearing stories from the older kids about all the things to do in Hogsmeade, and she was practically vibrating from excitement. Uma and Jay were with her and, while both of them were better at remaining calm, there was no hiding the sparkle in their eyes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            The gaggle of students trudged to the village together, not unlike a herd of sheep, before they were allowed to disperse and evade the eyes of watchful professors in every corner of Hogsmeade. The popular choice was Honeydukes, the candy shop, and although students could barely fit through the door, it was the only place Mal, Uma, and Jay wanted to go.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            With a little help from Jay and his big, beefy arms (and sharp elbows), the three waded their way through the sea of kids and were able to drool over the mountains of candy surrounding them.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Mal had never been so happy in her entire life as she filled her arms with chocolate, licorice, fudge, and toffee. She met up with Uma and Jay in line to check out, both with similar hoards of treats, although Uma’s was overwhelmingly dominated by Chocolate Frogs.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “I’m starting a collection,” she explained. “I want every Chocolate Frog card there is!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            The rest of the afternoon was just as delightful. The trio ran around the entire village and stopped in every shop, even the ones that didn’t look at all interesting: they had to go everywhere.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “What’s in here?” Jay stopped in front of another building towards the edge of the village. The sign read “Hog’s Head Inn” and swung in the wind above the door, which was the nicest part of the building. Everything else was run-down or broken and it wouldn’t have been surprising if a single snowflake landing on the roof caused it to collapse.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “We don’t need to see a smelly old inn,” Uma responded.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Mal would have agreed with her if she hadn’t spotted the great grey owl perched on the windowsill next to the door. Her heart sank into her stomach as she got the familiar feeling that she was being watched.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “I want to go in,” Mal said, although the statement was useless because she was already halfway through the door as she said it. Uma and Jay exchanged a look before following her inside.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            If the Three Broomsticks had an evil uncle looking to take over the family inheritance, it would be the Hog’s Head Inn. Everything about the place sent shivers down Mal’s spine, and the dim lighting casting shadows across every surface made it even creepier.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Mal spotted her mother sitting in a booth towards the back of the inn. She kept her eyes locked on the silhouette as she weaved her ways through tables and sketchy wizards to join Maleficent at the table. She didn’t even turn around to see if Uma and Jay were following her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Maleficent was drinking something that smelled rotten in a mug. She sipped on it and gave no indication that it was surprising to see Mal, because it wasn’t.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Hello, my darling,” Maleficent greeted as Mal sat down across from her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “What are you doing here?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Oh, just stopped for a drink. It’s a beautiful day to get out of the house, yes?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “What do you want?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Don’t be so cynical, my dear. I just want to catch up with my daughter. Are those your friends?” Maleficent waved to Uma and Jay who were still standing in front of the door. They gave a small wave back. “My, how Jay has grown. Jafar tells me he made the Quidditch team this year. What is he, a keeper?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “A chaser,”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “How wonderful. And how’s my daughter doing?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Fine.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Lovely. Well, I don’t want to keep you from your friends, they seem anxious to leave.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Mal turned to look at Jay and Uma. Uma had caught the attention of several wizards in the inn, and Jay was staring down Maleficent with a mix of fear, curiosity, and loathing.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Mal turned back to her mother. “Okay. I’ll write to you soon.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “That would be so wonderful, darling. Take care now.” She waved goodbye as she took another sip of her drink. Mal got up and returned to her friends who practically dragged her through the door as fast as possible.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Who’s the witch?” Uma asked as they started walking back to the center of Hogsmeade.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “My mother.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            “Mal, what was that all about?” Jay knew enough about Maleficent to be wary of her, and he was obviously suspicious of her intentions.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Mal shrugged. There was always an element of the unknown when it came to her mother, but if she got out of a conversation unscathed, she wasn’t in the habit of worrying about it. Maleficent would reveal the horrors up her sleeve when she was good and ready, and Mal knew it was just a matter of waiting.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>“Mal.” The voice was far away, and Mal was too comfortable to give it much thought. She rolled onto her side and curled up, vaguely aware that something was missing.</p>
<p>            “Mal!” Evie’s voice pierced through her exhaustion and brought her back to the present. She opened her eyes to see Evie standing next to the table, shaking Mal’s shoulder to wake her up. As she became more aware of her surroundings, Mal realized that she was cold without Evie’s body pressed up against hers. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to gauge how bad her bedhead was.</p>
<p>            “It’s eight. We can be in the halls again.” Evie showed Mal her watch to prove her point before collecting her things that had somehow spread across the room and packing them back into her bag.</p>
<p>            Mal’s brain was not processing information nearly as fast as Evie’s was, and she wondered if last night had actually happened. Evie seemed completely normal- the Evie she had always been. She uncrumpled her robe and put it back on, slid off the table, and began hunting down her belongings.</p>
<p>            “Thanks for helping me last night,” Evie said as Mal put the last loose quill in her bag.</p>
<p>            “Yeah. You’re gonna do great on your exam today.”</p>
<p>            “That’s not what I meant.”</p>
<p>            So Evie was going to acknowledge it after all. Mal would have been just as happy pretending it hadn’t happened, pretending her tongue hadn’t slipped and someone got to see the broken bits of her, even if it was just the tiniest of glances. Mal prided herself on her strength; if she didn’t have that, what did she have?</p>
<p>            She chose not to respond to Evie and made her way to the door, averting her eyes as she passed Evie. As she opened the door, Evie stomped past her and slammed it shut again. She slid her body in between Mal and the only exit and put her hands on her hips, clearly displeased.</p>
<p>            “Hey! What gives?”</p>
<p>            “We’re friends, right?”</p>
<p>            “What? Of course!”</p>
<p>            “Well friends don’t shut each other out, even if they’re feeling miserable.”</p>
<p>            “I’m not shutting you out!”</p>
<p>            “You’re not looking at me either.”</p>
<p>            Mal gave a sigh that McGonagall would be envious of and stared Evie down directly in the eyes. She gave her famous fiery stare that second years cowered at the sight of, but Evie didn’t back down and stared right back. It was the first time Mal noticed that Evie’s eyes were brown and full of just as much fire as Mal’s were.</p>
<p>            “That’s better. You don’t have to be weird with me. Ever. Okay?”</p>
<p>            Mal stared into Evie’s eyes, looking for the trick, or the punchline, or something that told her Evie was up to no good. But she couldn’t find it. At last, she conceded.</p>
<p>            “Okay.”</p>
<p>            Evie relaxed. “Okay then. Come on- if we’re late to breakfast Harry will have eaten it all.” She took Mal by the arm and the two girls walked together to the Great Hall. Mal felt the eyes of her classmates as they watched a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff walk through the halls together, but when Evie noticed the look on Mal’s face she squeezed her arm even harder. The feeling made Mal forget everything that wasn’t Evie.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Actually Audrey</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wanted to take the time to say thank you to everyone who's been supporting me and dropping sweet comments- it really means the world to me.<br/>Also, I can't take credit for the deaf Slytherin idea- it came from a post from tumblr user brosequartz. I've always loved the idea and wanted to make it come to life.<br/>Shameless self promo: I'm on twitter @doveliegirl if you want more of my thoughts.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Attention: will all students please make their way back to their dormitories. Will all staff members please meet in the Front Hall? Thank you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal was in the middle of Herbology, hands full of Puffapod beans, when Dumbledore’s voice echoed overhead. She stopped and looked around at her fellow classmates, their faces painted with the same bewilderment and confusion that she felt.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Alright, you heard the man. Beans down everyone. Carefully! I don’t need any more blooms.” Professor Sprout zipped around the greenhouse, ensuring students placed their beans in the tanks of water provided (Puffapod beans instantly bloomed when they came in contact with any solid) and began shooing the students outside before bolting to the Great Hall.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal walked in a herd with Uma and the other third year Slytherins down to the dungeons and into the common room, although there was barely room to walk, it seemed the entire house was milling around, swapping rumors and whispering bizarre theories.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve never seen McGonagall so caught off guard in my life.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I heard a dragon got loose on the grounds and Hagrid has to go get it.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What if dementors are coming to kiss us all?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Are we gonna die?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh shut it, all of you!” A seventh year shouted as he stood up on one of the tables. “You’re frightening the first years! We’re all gonna be fine!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A tapping on the glass on the wall caused several younger students to shriek and grab onto the nearest body. A little first year no taller than Mal’s stomach grabbed her hand and held on tight. Mal held on tight too, and she told herself it was purely for the comfort of the trembling little boy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The tapping came from outside the common room window. While other common rooms had windows that looked out onto the grounds of the castle (supposedly, Mal had never actually seen), the Slytherin common room had windows overlooking the bottom of the Great Lake. Mal never tired of sitting by the window and watching the different creatures swim by and listening to Uma talk about the great adventures her mother had had under the sea.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A mermaid was the cause of the tapping; she was trying to get the attention of the Slytherin students.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Where’s Flynn?” the seventh year on the table called out. Flynn was a second-year student and the only deaf person Mal knew about at Hogwarts. Last year, the Slytherin House had discovered that Flynn could talk to the merpeople using sign language. She was always happy to teach everyone else so that they could talk to the merpeople themselves, but Flynn was undoubtably the best.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The crowd of Slytherins parted and pushed Flynn to the window so she could find out what the mermaid wanted. Mal hadn’t learned any signs, but Flynn knew how to speak, so she could get the message across to all the hearing Slytherins.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The merpeople are asking if we know what’s going on. They say there’s a lot of commotion coming from the castle- it might be under attack.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, if the first years weren’t freaked out before, they absolutely lost it when they heard the word “attack”. The boy Mal was holding hands with began to whimper, and Mal wasn’t sure whether she wanted to smack him over the head or join in his crying. Hogwarts was supposed to be a safe place, somewhere she didn’t have to look over her shoulder at every moment.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Woah, woah, woah. Flynn,” the seventh year signed as he spoke, “can you ask if the merpeople can find out exactly what’s happening?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Flynn turned to the mermaid and signed. The mermaid signed back and gave a curt nod to the rest of the room before swimming off.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“They’ll try,” Flynn informed. “But the rest of the castle is a long way from the lake.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The seventh year nodded. “Alright then, there’s not much to do, so we might as well calm down and wait for any news.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Fuck that!” A voice spoke up from the crowd. It was a seventh year Mal recognized as Jacob. “If we’re under attack, the professors need all the help they can get! I’m not gonna stand around while our castle gets destroyed!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That earned nodding and hums of agreement from many of the Slytherins, mostly the older ones, but Mal saw a few tiny fists curl up in preparation for battle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Look, if you’re of age, I can’t stop you from making your own choices, but I’ll stun anyone sixteen and under that tries to go through that door!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was a hierarchy of students at Hogwarts, even in Slytherin, and seventh years were at the very top. It was a lot harder to find the will to go out and fight when the biggest boy in the room was taking out his wand and pointing it in your direction.</em>
</p><p><em>“Henry’s right!” Another seventh year, Izzy, stood up on the table with him. “We don’t know what’s out there! For all we know, it </em>is<em> a fleet of dementors! I’m sure all of you can cast a perfect Patronus!”</em></p><p>
  <em>“Well I’m going!” Jacob declared as he made his way to the door. “I’m not afraid of anything! And I’ll protect anyone that wants to join me!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Five other seventh years followed him out. A few sixth years hung by the door, their eyes fixed on Henry and his wand, but remained in the common room. Everyone else attempted to resume some amount of normal, sitting in groups and whispering quietly to themselves. The first-year boy let go of Mal and went to join the other first years huddled in the corner by the fireplace.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What do we do now?” Uma asked Mal.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>More tapping on the glass gave Uma her answer. The mermaid was back with more news quickly interpreted by Flynn while the rest of the Slytherin house held their breath as they watched.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s a dragon,” Flynn told everybody.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“One dragon?” A voice called out. “Surely Hagrid can handle one dragon?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No!” Flynn called out as she watched the mermaid frantically sign through the window. “It’s more than a dragon!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Two dragons?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Let her finish!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Flynn shook her head. “The merpeople can’t say for sure. The dragon is attacking the castle, but it’s not a regular dragon. And it’s not alone.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal was starting to get a sickening feeling in her stomach as her classmates puzzled over what kind of dragon they could possibly be dealing with. She fiddled nervously with the black ring around her finger and, although she knew it was her imagination, she could swear she felt it radiating heat.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Uma,” Mal whispered to her friend as discreetly as possible. “I need a distraction.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re going out there aren’t you?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Just help me out, okay?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Fine. But if you die, my conscience is clear.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma slipped away while Mal inched closer and closer to the common room door. Uma positioned herself as close to Henry as possible without drawing attention to herself, gave Mal one final look of annoyance, and dropped to the floor in as obvious a faint as possible.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>While everybody was busy rushing to help Uma (or to just stare at the ensuing chaos), Mal slipped through the door as fast as she could. She thought she had succeeded in remaining undetected, but she heard the door open behind her and out slipped Cass, a fifth year, also on a mission to join the battle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I like your spirit!” Cass told Mal as she slapped her on the back. “That was a good distraction!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’ll only be good if your shouting doesn’t get us caught!” Mal scolded. “Come on!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The two girls raced together through the dungeons and out into the main part of the castle, where they could feel the ground beneath them shaking as shouting coming from all directions. Still, there was no sign of trouble and no clue as to which way to go.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“See you around, third-year,” Cass gave Mal one final slap on the back before running off in a seemingly random direction. Mal watched her as she disappeared around a corner and wondered for a moment if she’d ever see the girl again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A chorus of screams brought Mal back to the moment;  they were undoubtably coming from outside the castle, probably the main lawn. Mal hurried in that direction, running as fast as she could towards her mother for the first time in her life.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>            That particular night, Mal and Uma were eating dinner at the Gryffindor table. This was highly uncommon because, if anything, Jay and Harry would come to the Slytherin table to eat, but the louder of the Slytherins had been complaining that the boys ate way too much of their food, so the gang thought they’d mix it up for once.</p><p>            It was weird, for sure, but after multiple meals at the Hufflepuff table, Mal didn’t feel on the brink of an anxiety attack. The worst was Audrey’s loud grumbling as Jay made her scootch over and make room, but Mal was certainly not afraid of the girl.</p><p>            And besides, the four friends had not been spending a lot of time together the past few weeks with Uma, Jay, and Harry constantly in practice and Mal constantly with Evie and they had made a vow to regroup and catch up on each other’s lives.</p><p>            “So, what are you?” Uma pressed Mal very early in the conversation. Mal decided she did not like regrouping and catching up.</p><p>            “I’m a wizard.”</p><p>            “That’s not what I meant.”</p><p>            “I’m a Slytherin.”</p><p>            “<em>Obviously</em>.” Audrey cut in as Uma shook her head to reject the answer.</p><p>            “I’m ninety pounds of whoop-ass.”</p><p>            “More like ninety pounds of dumb-ass.”</p><p>            “You <em>know</em> what I’m asking, dipshit,” Uma rolled her eyes as she gave Mal a small slap over the back of the head. “You and Evie.”</p><p>            “I’m pretty sure Evie’s a wizard too.”</p><p>            “Is it my turn to slap her?” Audrey asked.</p><p>            “We aren’t talking to you, Audrey,” Uma growled as her impatience for Mal grew. “Mal, are you and Evie together or not?”</p><p>            “Why are you asking?”</p><p>            “You guys are cute together!” Uma said.</p><p>            “And ye spend a lot o’ time together,” Harry added.</p><p>            “And you definitely seem less angry when she’s around,” Jay noted.</p><p>            “Maybe it’s because she doesn’t pester me like <em>some</em> people I know,” Mal grumbled into her dinner plate as she avoided everyone’s eyes.</p><p>            “Oh, come on. It’s obvious you like each other.”</p><p>            “Have you even asked her out?” Audrey scoffed.</p><p>            “They went on a date!” Uma defended.</p><p>            “No,” Mal corrected. “A group of friends went to get drinks and then everyone ditched us.”</p><p>            “Yer welcome,” Harry said with a smile on his face.</p><p>            “Well, if you don’t ask her out soon, she’s gonna think you aren’t interested.”</p><p>            “No one asked you, Audrey,” Mal growled.</p><p>            “No, no, she has a point,” Uma said with a thoughtful look on her face.</p><p>            “Thank you,” Audrey addressed Uma as she continued staring at Mal with her full attention. In five years, Mal had barely said two words to Audrey, but now that romance was in the mix, she had Audrey’s full attention. “Now Mal, if you’re serious about this girl, you have to show her that you care.”</p><p>            “We already study together.”</p><p>            Audrey rolled her eyes. “Are all Slytherins this hopeless? Or is it just you? Do something nice for her. Take her somewhere special. Get her something she really likes. Do I need to continue?”</p><p>            “Ah wish you wouldn’t,” Harry muttered.</p><p>            Audrey ignored him. “I know at least ten other boys who would love to get a chance with Evie. If you don’t treat her right, somebody else will.”</p><p>            Mal was not in a good mood. She stayed mostly silent as the topic slowly drifted from her (nonexistent) love life to Quidditch to Audrey’s opinion on wizarding sports. Was it possible that Evie would get sick of her and leave her? She hadn’t considered that possibility, although the more she thought about it the more sense it made. Why should Evie stick with Mal when there were so many people at Hogwarts that wanted to be Evie’s friend, all with less angry personalities and who actually smiled when they were happy. And if Uma and Audrey were agreeing on something, well then it must be true.</p><p>            That night Mal laid in her bed and thought of all the things that Evie liked.</p>
<ol>
<li>Fashion</li>
<li>The color blue</li>
<li>Bennett the owl</li>
<li>Muggle movies</li>
<li>Being right all the time</li>
<li>???</li>
</ol><p>This was going to be harder than Mal thought. If she wanted to stay Evie’s friend (and she had come to the conclusion that she did), she was going to need some serious help from someone who actually knew what they were talking about.</p><p>Mal’s first class of the morning was Charms with Gryffindor, which ended up working in her favor. The class was starting their work on the Leg-Locking Curse and Flitwick had instructed them to pair up after delivering his lecture. Without explaining herself, Mal dragged Uma across the room to where Audrey and Lonnie were getting ready to practice.</p><p>“Hey, uh, Lonnie? Uma says she really wants to work with you today. Why don’t you two pair up?”</p><p>Mal couldn’t decide who was more confused: Uma or Lonnie. But Lonnie shrugged her shoulders and motioned for Uma to follow her to find a spot to practice, leaving Mal with a surprisingly pleased Audrey.</p><p>“You need my help,” Audrey practically sang.</p><p>“I didn’t say that!”</p><p>Audrey giggled. “Oh Mal. Mal, Mal, Mal, Mal, Mal,” she said, still in her sing-song voice. “Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place.”</p><p>Mal shuffled uncomfortably in her spot. She wasn’t used to asking for help, or for someone like Audrey to know her business. “Yeah well, just tell me what I have to do.”</p><p>“Concentrate, ladies!” Flitwick boomed from behind them. “Let’s see those wand movements!”</p><p>Mal took out her wand and shifted into an offensive position, ready to curse Audrey. “Locomotor mortis!” she shouted.</p><p>The beam of purple light hit Audrey and instantly snapped her legs together. The Gryffindor wobbled and barely managed to stay upright as she began hopping in place to keep from falling over.</p><p>Flitwick seemed somewhat surprised, but definitely pleased. “Excellent! Very fine wand work!” he said before moving on to the next pair.</p><p>“So what do I have to do?” Mal asked Audrey.</p><p>“Um, counter-curse much?”</p><p>Mal sighed and performed the counter-curse, causing Audrey’s legs to snap apart and allowing the girl to stop hopping around. Audrey gave a small sigh and smoothed her hair out, not unlike a certain princess Mal knew.</p><p>“You need to learn to be romantic, Mal. Leather jackets and growling will only take you so far.”</p><p>“So I put on a frilly dress and give her roses and chocolates?”</p><p>“If you want her to throw up, then yes.”</p><p>Mal stomped her foot; she was getting impatient. “So what then, Audrey?”</p><p>“Locomotor mortis!”</p><p>Without warning, Audrey had cast the curse on Mal. Her legs snapped together like two magnets and before she could do anything about it, she tumbled to the ground, legs still stuck together.</p><p>Audrey walked over to Mal and knelt over her, looking extremely pleased with herself. She leaned in so that only Mal could hear her. “Show her you care. I’m betting you know Evie better than anyone in this castle; figure out what she wants and do it.”</p><p>Audrey performed the counter-curse and went back to her spot without helping Mal to her feet. The rest of the class Mal was in autopilot, going from letting Audrey curse her to absentmindedly shouting the incantation and watching Audrey try and keep her balance. She had a lot to think about. What was something that she could do for Evie? Which brought up the question: what did Mal even have to offer?</p><p>By the end of class Mal still had not come up with any definitive answers, but she wasn’t discouraged. She had until tomorrow before she saw Evie, surely she could come up with something by then. She was content to let the matter slip to the back of her mind as she listened to Uma rant about Lonnie and the rest of Gryffindor house.</p><p>-</p><p>            The next day had  come faster than Mal had anticipated and she found herself in the library with Uma, Carlos, and Evie with no plan whatsoever. They were at their usual table writing their Care of Magical Creatures essay on Bowtruckles.</p><p>            “I don’t get how we’re expected to write so much,” Evie said in an extremely uncharacteristic tone. “I mean, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”</p><p>            “Have you even seen a Bowtruckle outside of class?” Carlos asked her.</p><p>            “No, I guess not. It would be pretty cool to see them all in the wild,” Evie mused before returning to her essay.</p><p>            Mal froze in her seat. She had an idea. And in her experience, she had to act quickly on her ideas before someone came along and shut them down. She began stuffing her things into her bag, not bothering to make sure the ink on her paper was dry.</p><p>            “Where are you going?” Uma asked as she watched the chaos.</p><p>            “I’ve gotta go, I’ll see you later!” She called out as she ran off, earning a shushing from Madame Pince as she raced out of the library and down to the dungeons.</p><p>            She found just the person she was looking for- someone who knew the lake better than anyone at Hogwarts. “Flynn!” she called out until she realized that the girl wouldn’t be able to hear her. “Oh shit. Uh, Flynn!” she tried again, this time tapping the girl on the shoulder.</p><p>            Flynn looked up in the chair she was sitting in by the fire and smiled at Mal. “What’s up?” she asked.</p><p>            “What do you know- oh, wait. Uh, okay.” Mal began trying to use what little sign language she knew along with her speaking. “What do you know about- shit, how do you make a ‘b’?”</p><p>            Flynn put her hand up to stop Mal’s feeble attempts at communication. “It’s okay, I can read lips. What do you need to know about?”</p><p>            “Bowtruckle Island. It’s in the middle of the lake, right? How do I get there?”</p><p>            “How’s your swimming?”</p><p>            “That’s not funny.”</p><p>            Flynn chuckled to herself. “I thought it was funny. Well,” she thought, “how desperate are you to get there?”</p><p>            “Why?”</p><p>            “Are you willing to break a couple rules to get there?”</p><p>            “It’s me, Flynn.”</p><p>            Flynn grinned. “The boathouse.”</p><p>            “What?”</p><p>            “Get a boat from the boathouse. Levitate it over the lake to the island.”</p><p>            “Flynn, you’re a genius!” Mal shouted.</p><p>            “Tell me something I don’t know.”</p><p>            Without saying goodbye, Mal raced to her room. She took out a piece of parchment from her bag (after rooting for one that wasn’t smeared with ink) and her quill and wrote:</p><p>            <em>E,</em></p><p>
  <em>            Meet me at the boathouse <span class="u">RIGHT NOW</span>!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>            She folded the note up and raced out of her room, out of the dungeons, and across the grounds to the owlery. She hadn’t even bothered to put on her jacket before leaving and shivered the whole way up the tall building to the screeching of owls at the top.</p><p>            Mal had only ever been to the owlery once for detention (after an unfortunate incident with a stink bomb) and wasn’t prepared for the chaos of feathers everywhere, screeches that pierced her skull, and the smell of hundreds of owls.</p><p>            “Bennett!” she called out. “I need you!”</p><p>            She looked around and saw at least four owls that could possibly be Bennett, but after going up to each one she dismissed it as an imposter based on the friendly greetings they all gave her.</p><p>            The fifth owl she approached was, without a doubt, the little bitch himself. He didn’t wait for a greeting from Mal before he squinted his eyes at her and gave her a good peck on the hand.</p><p>            “Ow! Fuck you, you flying mop shit!” Mal reeled back a couple inches as Bennett continued to stare her down. “Look, I need a favor. I need you to give this to Evie,” she showed Bennett the note in her hand.</p><p>            Bennett looked from Mal to the note back to Mal. He looked suspicious of the whole situation, as if Mal were handing him a bomb and not a tiny piece of parchment.</p><p>            “Oh, come on. You like Evie, don’t you? Do it for Evie.”</p><p>            That approach seemed to satisfy the owl. He reached out his claw and snatched the paper from Mal’s hand before giving his feathers a quick ruffle and flying away. Mal ran to the window and watched him leave in the direction of the castle before taking off once more towards the boathouse.</p><p>            It took no more than twenty minutes for Evie to show up where Mal was waiting for her. Mal spent the entire time rehearsing what she was going to say to the girl, that is when she wasn’t worrying about whether Evie would actually show up.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Evie asked, out of breath. “You ran out of the library so fast.”</p><p>            Mal grinned. “I am super okay. Are you ready?”</p><p>            Evie paused. “For what?”</p><p>            Mal climbed down from the dock and sat in one of the many boats that lined the boathouse. The last time she had sat in one of these boats, she was a scrawny little first year going to Hogwarts for the very first time. “Come on!” she called out to Evie.</p><p>            “Where are we going?”</p><p>            “Come <em>on</em>,” Mal shouted again. This time Evie made her way to the boat and, with Mal holding the boat steady, climbed in, and sat beside her.</p><p>            “We shouldn’t even be using these!”</p><p>“That’s what makes it fun! Locomotor!” Mal pointed her wand at the boat below them and they both held on tight as the boat rose from the water and hovered a few inches above the surface.</p><p>“I guess we’ll see if your lessons paid off!” she said as she began to steer the boat away from the boathouse and to the middle of the lake.</p><p>            Evie held on for dear life, her knuckles white as she gripped the sides of the boat. Apparently, she was not as confident as Mal was in this plan, but within minutes the small island came into view with both girls unscathed.</p><p>            “Bowtruckle Island!” Mal announced as the boat drifted on the rocky beach and landed on the ground. Again, she held the boat steady to allow Evie to get off without falling over before climbing out herself.</p><p>            “What are we doing here?” Evie asked, looking around at all of the trees covering the small piece of land.</p><p>            “You said you wanted to see wild Bowtruckles,” Mal explained.</p><p>            Evie’s face could only be described as stunned. Mal held her breath, anticipating loud backlash, but after a moment Evie broke out in laughter. Mal took a moment to make sure it was genuine before breaking out in a smile.</p><p>            “M- I mean- I didn’t mean for you to go through all this trouble.”</p><p>            “What trouble? Were you not watching my perfect levitating spell?”</p><p>            Evie’s grin couldn’t have been bigger. “I can’t believe you thought of doing this for me.”</p><p>            “Actually, Audrey was the one who told me to do it.”</p><p>            “Audrey told you to take me to Bowtruckle Island?”</p><p>            “No, she said to do whatever you wanted.”</p><p>            “She did?”</p><p>            “Well, not in those words exactly, but, well, are you happy?”</p><p>            Evie was still grinning as she took Mal’s hand. “Of course I am. So, where are all these Bowtruckles?” She looked around. It was a good question; the little beasts were nowhere in sight.</p><p>            “They’re shy little bastards. You have to know how to get their attention.” Mal walked further onto the island and began combing through the magical foliage. Evie watched her run her fingers through the tall grass and flowers while staring at the bark of the tree next to her, her face barely an inch away.</p><p>            “Here we go!” Mal pinched at the tree and held up her find: a wood louse.</p><p>            “A bug?” Evie questioned.</p><p>            “Bowtruckles love bugs! Just wait.” Mal held the louse between her two fingers and hovered near the tree she got it from, paying special attention to the branches higher up.</p><p>            “Here, Bowtruckle,” she beckoned. “Lunch time!”</p><p>            They had to wait a few minutes with Mal calling over and over until finally the leaves off of the lowest branch rustled and out popped a tiny green head hungrily eyeing Mal’s gift. Its beady eyes darted from Mal to Evie to the bug before it decided to take a chance and crawl down to Mal’s outstretched hand.</p><p>            Mal stayed perfectly calm as the creature ate its meal in her hand. Evie, on the other hand, was practically vibrating next to Mal as she watched her first wild Bowtruckle.</p><p>            The Bowtruckle finished its meal and looked up at the two girls expectantly.</p><p>            “Your turn,” Mal told Evie.</p><p>            They spent the next hour hunting down wood lice and feeding their new friend. The Bowtruckle had made its way into Evie’s hand, while three more brave Bowtruckles had made their way down and were fighting over bugs while perched on Mal’s arms. Evie and Mal didn’t say much, but nothing really needed saying. The only sounds that mattered were the chewing of bugs and the small giggles and sighs from Evie. Mal couldn’t have asked for more.</p><p>            It wasn’t until the sun was threatening to set that Mal finally convinced Evie to say goodbye to Bowtruckle Island and get back in the boat to sail (or rather, levitate) back to the boathouse. Evie talked about Bowtruckles the entire ride back. And the entire walk back to the castle. And the entire way through to the basement outside of the Hufflepuff common room. Mal was content to stay silent and listen to the uninterrupted flow of joy coming from Evie’s mouth.</p><p>            “Oh. This is me,” Evie said as she realized where they had already been standing for the past five minutes. “Thanks again, M. That was really awesome. And we didn’t even get caught!”</p><p>            “I wouldn’t let you get in trouble; I’ve got your back.”</p><p>            Mal could have sworn Evie was blushing under all of her makeup. “I’ll see you at dinner, okay?”</p><p>            “Yeah, of course.”</p><p>            Evie gave Mal one last look before taking out her wand and tapping the barrel that led to the Hufflepuff common room. Mal would have given anything to follow her but forced herself to remain content with the memories of that afternoon and the sound of Evie’s giggle in her ear.</p><p>-</p><p>
  <em>Mal couldn’t see. She dropped to the ground in an act of self-preservation as smoke filled her eyes and seeped into her lungs. She felt that her coughing fit could be heard from miles away and was worried that it would give away her position, but no one was paying her much attention anyway. Not that there were very many people, so far, she had only seen Professor Vector running by shouting a spell and a slumped-over Gryffindor girl that Mal refused to go near.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That wasn’t to say that she hadn’t been spotted. Almost every painting she passed had an opinion on which way she should be going.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hide yourself, girl!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“That way! The beast is that way!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Go back to your dorm! Didn’t you hear the Headmaster?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She followed the path Professor Vector had taken, hoping that he at least knew where he was going. She was headed to the front of the castle and as she crept nearer and nearer (on her hands and knees so that she could breathe), the smoke grew thicker and the shouting got louder. Thunderous booms shook the whole castle, and Mal would have covered her ears if her hands weren’t already in use.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The front door was wide open, blasted to pieces. There was fighting every which way; she saw her professors faced off against wizards she didn’t recognize, although the occasional face she remembered from secret meetings in her very own living room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The statues that once decorated the hallways had somehow become sentient and were doing their part to aide the Hogwarts staff in the battle. Chunks of stone went flying every which way as they were getting blasted apart by hexes and smashed by weapons.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The scene was too much for Mal to make sense of, but she knew that her mother wasn’t there, so she had to keep moving forward. She took a deep breath as she rose from her spot on the ground where she had been safely guarded by smoke and began running towards the open door.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Stupefy!” Mal heard the spell shouted from behind her and felt it whiz past her head. She began shouting every spell she could remember in a desperate attempt to stay safe, all the while running as fast as she could.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Flipendo! Flipendo! Expelliarmus! Alohomora!” She screamed the last one before remembering that that spell was used to open locks and not to fight against evil wizards. She made a silent promise that if she ever got out of this, she would pay better attention in Charms.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She took a huge gulp of fresh air as she crossed the threshold of the castle before freezing in her place. If she thought the front hall was chaos, she was not prepared for the sight of the front lawn. Wizard after wizard surrounded the outnumbered professors and occasional student. Almost every blade of grass was on fire, threatening to swallow any wizard that got in its way. And, at the epicenter of the battle, was Maleficent in full dragon form, clawing at the side of the castle and knocking aside chunks of wall like it was dust.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal had to get to her mother. She didn’t know why; every ounce of her was telling her to curl up and hide, but after being drawn to Maleficent for so many years, it was like a habit that she couldn’t break.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mother!” she screamed. The sound may as well have been a whisper compared to the deafening noise of the battle around her. She tried again as she attempted to make her way closer, threading around patches of flames.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mother!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Stupefy!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Everything went black.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. That Tingly Feeling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>:)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Mal could feel her entire body aching before she had even opened her eyes. She was perfectly content to keep them closed and fall back asleep, but it was obvious that she was not in her own bed and curiosity got the better of her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She was in the hospital wing, although she wasn’t really sure why- nothing seemed broken. The events of that afternoon began crawling back into her mind piece by piece. Was it still the afternoon? How much time had passed? How did she get to the hospital wing? Where was her mother?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>All of those questions could be answered by the man sitting at the end of her bed eating chocolate out of a tin. Although out of place, Dumbledore looked the same as ever, save for a bandaged hand.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Madame Pomfrey healed it, of course,” he told Mal when he saw her staring at his hand. “Best to keep it wrapped up for a bit, though. I am getting up there in years. Chocolate?” He offered her the tin of sweets. She didn’t take one.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“More for me I suppose” he said with a hint of disappointment in his tone. “Although I should mention that they are yours.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Where’s my mom?” Mal asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Ah. Getting right to the matter at hand, I see.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I want to see her.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m afraid she isn’t here.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal’s voice caught in her throat. She found it a little harder to breathe as she asked: “Did you kill her?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, Mal; Maleficent is very much alive.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Then, where is she?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“She’s being taken to Azkaban.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What?!” Mal bolted upright. She would have leapt out of bed if sitting up didn’t hurt so much. She let out a small groan as her back protested the sudden movement.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Now, now- you must take it easy; you fell quite hard after I stunned you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was one fucking kick in the stomach after another with this old man. “You stunned me?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes, well, I don’t normally make a habit out of stunning students, but it seemed the situation called for it. Or would you have backed down had I taken you aside and chatted with you?” The tin of chocolates now empty, Dumbledore set it on the ground by the bed and reached for a Chocolate Frog.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>      “Uma, I presume?” he said as he opened it up. The frog sprang to life and hopped out of the box and away from Dumbledore.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Bad luck,” he said to himself. He pulled out the card. “And another Dumbledore- how disappointing.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I was trying to get to my mother. And you stunned me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It is my duty to protect all of the students here. If that means putting them out of commission, so be it. Running towards a dragon is not a very smart choice.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It wasn’t a dragon; it was my mother. And it was my choice to make; you took that from me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The lament of the youth. I’m afraid that while you’re thirteen years of age and attending my school, you’ll find that there are many things in which you do not have a choice in.” He stood up and clapped his hands together, a sign that he was departing. He took one last look at the assortment of sweets on the table beside Mal’s bed but shook his head as he decided against it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“it’s safe to say that Maleficent’s communications with you will stop. However, if you find that you should need me, I do hope you’ll remember the way to my office.” And he was gone.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal had never been more angry. Or more sad. Or more confused. But she did what her mother had always taught her to do: swallow her feelings. She let out a deep breath and made the most neutral face she could manage. She kept it on while Madame Pomfrey fretted over her, and when she went back to her dorm and Uma begged her to tell her what happened, and when Dumbledore made the announcement at dinner that they would be dining with three less students than before. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She kept her composition for the rest of the year.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>            On the first of December, an announcement was made at dinner that caused quite a stirring amongst the students in the Great Hall.</p><p>            “Many years ago,” Dumbledore began, “it was tradition to celebrate the winter holidays by throwing a dance. While we haven’t held one for quite some time, I believe this is the perfect year to bring the Yule Ball back to Hogwarts. So, find your dates and send for your best dress robes, because on the twenty-fifth, the Yule Ball will be here!”</p><p>            The Yule Ball was the only topic at dinner that night. Everyone had something to say about it- even the Bloody Baron.</p><p>            “It will be nice to see the students in proper attire for a change, and I am rather fond of ballroom music,” he was explaining to a group of Slytherin first years who were too polite (or too scared) to ignore him.</p><p>            Mal had never been to an event where her leather jacket wasn’t an acceptable outfit; she certainly wasn’t excited about the idea of having to dress up. She was even less excited about the idea of having to pair off.</p><p>            The next day, it was still all anyone could talk about. As the gang walked through the hall to their first class of the day, they passed students huddled together, whispering and gossiping about the prospects of finding a date.</p><p>            “Who are you gonna ask, Jay?” Carlos asked the boy, clearly searching for a bit of advice.</p><p>            “No one- I’m going solo. That way, I can dance with everyone.” He winked at a Ravenclaw girl as they walked by her in the hall. She gave Jay a small wave and a shy smile.</p><p>            “Don’t listen to him, Curly,” Uma said. “Who do you wanna go with?”</p><p>            Carlos shrugged; the conversation was taking an unfamiliar turn. “I don’t know; I never really thought about it until now.”</p><p>            “What about Jane?” Evie asked.</p><p>            Carlos blushed. “What about her?”</p><p>            “Well, you stare at her a lot.”</p><p>            “I do not!”</p><p>            Evie ignored the obvious lie. “You should ask her! I bet she’d say yes!”</p><p>            Carlos looked around the group and focused on Mal. “What about you, Mal? Who do you wanna go with?”</p><p>            Mal gave a sharp laugh. “Oh no, Curly; you’re not shoving me under the bus just so you can get out of the spotlight. If you really do like this girl, take her!”</p><p>            “But what if she says no?”</p><p>            Mal rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. She’s a Hufflepuff, right?”</p><p>            Carlos nodded.</p><p>            “Hufflepuffs are too nice to turn anyone down. Watch this,” she turned to Evie. “E, wanna go to the ball together?”</p><p>            Everyone’s eyes immediately locked onto Evie and her slightly shocked face. “Um, sure,” she said at last. “I think that would be really nice.”</p><p>            Mal turned back to Carlos. “See? Easy.” She slapped Carlos on the back and walked into the Charms classroom without saying goodbye to the Hufflepuffs she was leaving behind.</p><p>            Uma, Jay, and Harry walked in after her with very different expressions on each of their faces. Harry looked slightly confused, Jay looked at Mal with a mixture of amusement and respect, and Uma looked absolutely delighted.</p><p>            Uma sat next to Mal while Harry and Jay went to the other side of the room with the other Gryffindors. Mal was busy getting her things out of her bag and quickly rereading her Charms essay on the Reductor Curse (which was actually completed) while Uma sat staring at Mal with a big grin on her face.</p><p>            “What do you want, you freak?” Mal asked.</p><p>            “I’m just so excited. What are you gonna wear?”</p><p>            “To what?”</p><p>            “To the ball!”</p><p>            “Woah, what? Who’s talking about the ball?”</p><p>            “Literally everyone, Mal. Are you gonna match with Evie?”</p><p>            Match with Evie?”</p><p>            “You know, the girl you just asked out?”</p><p>            “The girl I- oh.” Realization hit Mal like the fucking Knight Bus. She had just asked Evie to the Yule Ball. And Evie had said yes.</p><p>            Uma looked less happy. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>            “I didn’t- I mean, I wasn’t-“</p><p>            “Oh no,” Uma interrupted. “You are not backing out of this one. You are going to that dance with Evie and you are going to have a great time and you are not going to complain once from now until it’s over. Don’t you like Evie?”</p><p>            “What kind of a question is that? Of course I like Evie.”</p><p>            “I mean like-like her.”</p><p>            “I don’t know- how can you tell?”</p><p>            At that moment, Flitwick walked in, forcing Mal and Uma to table their conversation. “Alright, folks,” he squeaked. “today we will be continuing on lesson on curses. Namely, the Reductor Curse. You all know the incantation so,” he walked over to a stack of boxes bigger than him. “I want you to get into groups of four, take some boxes, and show me what you’ve got!”</p><p>            In a role reversal from the previous Charms class, Uma took Mal’s hand and dragged her over to the Gryffindor side. Mal assumed they would be partnering up with Harry and Jay, and got a nice surprise when Uma walked right past them and over to Lonnie and Audrey. Harry and Jay looked just as surprised at the configuration, but Mal was helpless to do anything except give them an apologetic look.</p><p>            Uma didn’t give them a second look. She spoke to the two Gryffindor girls: “Lonnie, Audrey, partner with us?”</p><p>            Because of the abrupt pairing last class, Lonnie and Audrey were much less surprised at the offer. Lonnie went to go get the group some boxes while Uma, Mal, and Audrey took their places on the floor.</p><p>            “So, Mal, what do you need help with this time?” Audrey said as she smirked. “Have you taken my advice and actually asked your girl out?”</p><p>            “Yes, she did, and it went well,” Uma answered, not even bothering to let Mal talk for herself. “But we need to know- how do you know if you like someone? Like, like-like them?”</p><p>            “That’s easy,” Lonnie said as she brought the boxes over and set them down in front of the girls. “All you have to do is compete against them, let them win, and then if you still want to hang out with them after, you must really like them.”</p><p>            “Lonnie,” Audrey started, but then paused to give a dramatic small sigh. “I don’t even know where to begin. That’s not right at all. Listen, Mal,” she turned back to Mal, who didn’t think Lonnie’s idea was bad at all, “you need to see how you feel when you’re with Evie.”</p><p>            Mal folded her arms. “Uma didn’t say this was about Evie and me.”</p><p>            “Okay, whatever you say. How does being with Evie make you feel?”</p><p>            Mal would have practiced the Reductor Curse on Audrey if she thought she could get away with it. “I don’t know- Evie’s nice.”</p><p>            Audrey looked like she had similar feelings towards Mal. “That’s not how you <em>feel</em>, though. Someone help me out, I don’t speak dumb-ass.”</p><p>            “Here, Mal,” Lonnie stood behind Mal and turned Mal’s body so that she was facing the stack of boxes. “Focus up and blast one of the boxes.”</p><p>            Mal failed to see how this would help her love life, but she would rather be doing anything else than talking about her feelings, schoolwork included. She took out her wand and focused on the top box: “Reducto!”</p><p>            The box exploded with a bang and became nothing more than a pile of ashes. Lonnie put her hands on Mal’s shoulders to get her attention as she spoke.</p><p>            “Okay, how did <em>that</em> make you feel?”</p><p>            “Good, I guess.” She expanded on the idea as the look from Lonnie showed that she wanted more. “I can feel my wand kind of tingling in my hand; that makes me feel good because I know I did a good job.”</p><p>            “Okay- great!” Lonnie cut in. “So, when’s a time that you felt tingly with Evie?”</p><p>            Mal took a second to think. To be honest, there were very few moments where Mal <em>didn’t</em> feel all tingly around Evie, but she didn’t think that was an answer that needed sharing.</p><p>            “I feel tingly when we’re practicing a spell and I get it right.”</p><p>            “Anything else?”</p><p>            “And when she got all excited about the Bowtruckles I showed her.”</p><p>            “Do you feel tingly any time she’s happy?”</p><p>            “Yeah,” Mal said without hesitation.</p><p>            Audrey and Lonnie shared a knowing look. “You’ve got it bad, girl,” Audrey said with a giggle.</p><p>            “Got what?”</p><p>            “She means- you like Evie. A lot.” Lonnie translated.</p><p>            “Just make sure she likes you back,” Audrey added.</p><p>            “Or what?” Mal asked.</p><p>            Audrey looked like she pitied Mal and her walnut-sized brain. “Or you’ll scare her away.”</p><p>            “Less talking, more practicing!” Flitwick squeaked as he passed by their group.</p><p>            “Reducto!” Without even looking, Lonnie pointed her wand over Mal’s shoulder and hit the box on top, completely obliterating it and sending a fine mist of box particles through the room.</p><p>            “Damn, girl,” Uma said.</p><p>            Lonnie smiled, pleased with herself. “It’s all about the focus.”</p><p>            The four girls practiced destroying boxes for the rest of the class, but mal didn’t do nearly as well as she had the first time. Lonnie was right- it was all about the focus. And Mal had none; she was completely focused on something else entirely.</p><p>-</p><p>            Mal caught up with Evie later that day at lunch. It was easy to spot her bright blue hair amongst the rest of the Hufflepuffs at their table.</p><p>            “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” Mal asked Evie.</p><p>            “Of course!” Evie scooted closer to Carlos to make a spot at the bench. “Do you wanna join us?”</p><p>            “I, uh, kinda thought that we could talk alone.”</p><p>            “Oh! Yeah, that’s fine.” Evie stood up. “I’ll be right back, Carlos.”</p><p>            Carlos nodded with a sly smile as Evie and Mal walked down the length of the Great Hall.</p><p>            “Oh, Jane!” Evie said as they passed the Hufflepuff girl just arriving. “There’s an empty spot at the table next to Carlos!”</p><p>            “Thank Evie,” Jane said as she smiled and headed that way.</p><p>            Mal looked Evie up and down.</p><p>            “What?” Evie asked.</p><p>            “You’re devious. I didn’t know you had it in you.”</p><p>            Evie put her hands on her hips. “There’s nothing wrong with helping young love come to be.” They exited the Great Hall and began walking aimlessly around the hallways. “What did you want to talk about?”</p><p>            “Oh,” Mal said as she looked down at her feet. “The Yule Ball, I guess.”</p><p>            “We don’t have to go, you know.”</p><p>            “What?” Mal asked, thinking she heard Evie wrong.</p><p>            “The Ball. We can skip it if you want. I know fancy dresses and ballroom music aren’t really your style.”</p><p>            “But you have to go; this is the kind of thing you really like!”</p><p>            “All I’m saying is- don’t feel like you have to go because of me.”</p><p>            “Woah.” Mal stopped walking. “Where is this coming from? I thought you wanted to go with me.”</p><p>            “I do! I mean, it’d be fun. But it’d only be fun if you were having a good time.”</p><p>            Mal took Evie’s hand. “E, I’ll have fun with you wherever we are. And there’s no way you’re missing a chance to dress up like an actual princess.”</p><p>            It was impossible to miss the excitement in Evie’s eyes. “Do you mean it?”</p><p>            “My word is good, isn’t it?”</p><p>            Evie gave a small squeal and hugged Mal tight. And even though Mal wanted to puke just thinking about wearing a dress, somehow that tingly feeling made its way into Mal’s chest as she hugged Evie back.</p><p>-</p><p>            That night, Carlos, Evie, and Mal were scheduled for a study session in the Transfiguration classroom. They were going to work on the Reductor Curse- Mal had completely lost her focus and was having trouble exploding anything, and Carlos’ curses barely scratched the object.</p><p>            Uma’s Quidditch practice had been cancelled (Roger had taken a Quaffle to the head), so she came along too. The two girls met the Hufflepuffs in the classroom where both were looking uncharacteristically unhappy.</p><p>            “Everything okay in here?” Mal cautiously asked.</p><p>            Evie folded her arms and stomped her foot in a little pout. “Carlos didn’t ask Jane to the ball!”</p><p>            “It wasn’t the right time!” Carlos defended.</p><p>            “Well, when is the right time?” Evie asked.</p><p>            “I don’t know- when it feels…right.”</p><p>            “Look, Curly, if you don’t wanna take Jane, there are plenty of other fish in the sea.” Uma walked up to him and gave his curls an encouraging ruffle.</p><p>            “I do want to go with Jane! She’s nice to me. I just- I don’t want to mess things up. I’ll ask her!” He added when Evie raised her eyebrows at him. “When the time is right, I’ll ask her.”</p><p>            “Sounds like he’s got everything figured out,” Mal told Evie. “Are we exploding things or not? Where’s Bennett?”</p><p>            “You’re not cursing my owl!” Evie protested. She pointed to the stack of boxes in the middle of the room. “Flitwick said we could use these.”</p><p>            Uma was the best at the Reductor Curse and Evie wasn’t far behind, so the two girls paired off with Carlos and Mal respectively and everyone got to work.</p><p>            Carlos’ work was steadily improving with Uma’s version of encouragement (“Finish them off, Curly, or they’ll come for you in your sleep!”) while Mal had managed to half-implode one box while damaging a chair in the corner beyond recognition (Evie’s quick thinking put the fire out as quickly as it had started).</p><p>            “Where’s your focus today, M?” Evie asked as the last of the water from her wand sprayed into the air.</p><p>            “I’ll tell you where her focus is,” Uma shouted from across the room.</p><p>            Mal could have strangled Uma, but it wasn’t untrue. The past couple study sessions, Mal wasn’t even trying to focus on her work; she was too busy feeling the warmth of Evie’s hand when she adjusted Mal’s grip, or trying not to smile at the tickle of Evie’s breath when she leaned in an inch away from Mal, or looking at the curves of Evie’s body and remembering how nice it felt when they were connected.</p><p>            And try as she might, Mal couldn’t get those thoughts out of her head no matter what she was doing. She and Evie were friends- nothing more. She was going to have to learn to control all of these thoughts and feelings if she was going to keep Evie in her life.</p><p>            “Can we be done for tonight?” Mal asked as Carlos exploded the last of the boxes.</p><p>            Evie gave Mal a confused look. What’s with you? I can’t remember the last time you wanted to leave early.”</p><p>            “I’m not gonna get any better tonight. No point in making you put out more fires.”</p><p>            Evie’s eyes darted to Uma for an explanation. Uma did nothing but smirk. “Yeah- no problem.”</p><p>            Mal whipped around and headed out the door, making for a dramatic exit that accidently reminded her of Maleficent, but she didn’t slow down as she walked down the hallway.</p><p>            Evie was quick to catch up with her around the corner and grabbed Mal’s hand. “Hey, M, talk to me.”</p><p>            Mal withdrew her hand from Evie. “It’s nothing, I’m just not feeling it tonight.”</p><p>            “It’s okay- you’ll get there. Everyone has bad days; it doesn’t mean your spell work isn’t still good.”</p><p>            Mal shook her head. “I don’t care about that.”</p><p>            There was a moment of silence where Evie’s eyes pled for more. It would have been so easy to explain to Evie what she was feeling, but she couldn’t bring herself. Showing her true feelings would mean scaring Evie away forever.</p><p>            Evie’s voice was almost a whisper as she said “I thought we could tell each other anything.”</p><p>            Mal couldn’t feel any part of her body anymore. What was worse: Evie out of her life of making her think she didn’t trust her?</p><p>            Mal opened her mouth to say something. Nothing came out. She tried again. “It was just something Audrey said during Charms.” It was always easy blaming Audrey for something.</p><p>            Evie’s concerned eyes flashed with anger, just for a moment, but the concern stayed. “What did she say?”</p><p>            “It’s nothing.”</p><p>            This time Evie grabbed Mal’s hand and held tight, refusing to let Mal pull away. “Tell me, Mal.”</p><p>            “Please, I don’t want to scare you away.”</p><p>            “You could never. Why would you say that?”</p><p>            “That’s what Audrey said- to make sure I don’t scare you away.”</p><p>            “Okay, why would she say that?”</p><p>            What choice did Mal have? She was in too deep. “Because…I like you, and shit, and you don’t like me back, probably.”</p><p>            Silence. Evie’s eyes were locked onto Mal’s and the silence was deafening.</p><p>            And then Evie’s lips were on Mal’s. And their noses bumped together and Mal didn’t even register the pain. And Evie’s hand was on Mal’s cheek and it felt hot and cold all at the same time.</p><p>            Mal instinctively pulled away, her eyes wide as her brain was in overdrive trying to process what was happening. She quickly looked around; no one was there to see them.</p><p>            And so Mal leapt forward and they connected again. And her arms wrapped around Evie’s neck and Evie’s arms wrapped around her waist. And mal had to gasp for a breath when she realized she wasn’t breathing. And the only thoughts in her head was the smell of Evie’s shampoo and the taste of her lip gloss.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. A Matter of Ethics</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for being so patient- hope y'all can still love me.<br/>Food mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Come on- get up.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma’s figure loomed over Mal’s bed, and even tangled up under the covers Mal could tell that Uma was giving her the death glare.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Fuck off,” Mal mumbled as she began to wake up against her will.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Potions is in twenty minutes.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Not for me it isn’t.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma pulled the covers off of Mal and threw them to the ground. When that didn’t get the desired results, she yanked the pillow out from under Mal’s head and hit her with it before tossing it across the room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What the fuck do you want?” Mal grumbled, sitting up and looking for something within reach to throw at Uma. There was a disappointing lack of ammunition.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I want my best friend back; class isn’t any fun without you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal had spent all week ditching classes, lying in bed, and just generally being miserable. The times she did leave her room she was surrounded by whispers and stares and kids giving her a wide berth when they passed her in the hallway- word had spread quickly that Mal’s mother was the cause of all the chaos at Hogwarts and the students had not taken it well.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“If I wanted people muttering curses at me, I’d go see my mother.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No one is casting curses on you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What about that Gryffindor boy?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Jay and Harry beat the shit out of him- no one will be trying it again anytime soon.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal wasn’t convinced. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma sighed. “Help me out here,” she said to the other girls in the room getting ready for class. While the other three girls that shared a room with them were still friendly with Mal, they had definitely been giving her the space she demanded.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“If I were her, I wouldn’t be leaving the room either,” Freya said as she left.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The other two nodded in agreement. “I’ll bring you something from the Great Hall, Mal,” Jamie said before following Freya out the door.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma made one last attempt. “If you don’t come to Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon, I’m sneaking the boys in here and they’ll carry you out by your limbs.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal did nothing to show that she had heard her friend. She kept her eyes closed as she listened to Uma stare at her for a moment more before grabbing her stuff and leaving Mal to herself.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal had been spending a lot of time by herself these days. Too much alone time was a dangerous thing- it allowed for thoughts to seep into her brain with no hope for escape. This morning was no exception. Mal found herself remembering the way her mother used to absentmindedly stroke her hair as they sat by the fire. And then she remembered everything she had ever heard about Azkaban and dementors and pictured her mother rotting away in her cell surrounded in darkness.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She forced herself out of her bed and into the common room; a change of scenery would surely distract her. She chose a seat by the window overlooking the lake where she could focus on the different things she saw instead of the memories circling her mind.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She ended up daydreaming anyway until a tap on the other side of the glass brought her back. A mermaid was staring at her. Mal recognized her; the mermaid was a frequent visitor of the Slytherin common room, but Mal had never actually spoken to her before. It was nearly impossible without knowing at least a little sign language.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The mermaid signed something that Mal had no hope of understanding. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone anyway, humans or fish.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>After receiving nothing but a blank and uninviting stare, the mermaid lazily swam away. Mal was again left on her own, and after some consideration, she decided that that was the way she liked it anyways.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The rest of the day was spent mostly the same, with the occasional interruption from chatty Slytherins attempting to make small talk. Defense Against the Dark Arts came and went, and Harry and Jay did not in fact turn up and forcibly remove her from the dungeons. Uma filled the silence with updates about what Mal had missed during the day, and while Mal did appreciate her friend, it would have made no difference to her if Uma spoke to her or not.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal returned to classes exactly one week later with the promise of a lecture about vampires in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She spent the class zoned out and didn’t hear a single word about the subject, but it didn’t seem to matter much anyway. What she did notice was the unity that the third year Slytherins seemed to hold- keeping Mal close to them and flashing the Hufflepuffs dirty glances, daring any of them to say something bad about Mal.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of course, not a single Hufflepuff did; they mostly kept to themselves and made a point not to look in Mal’s direction. But as Mal was leaving, surrounded by a tight pack of her peers, the Hufflepuff with bright blue hair (what was her name again?) smiled and waved at her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The girl was quickly pulled away by her Hufflepuff swarm, but there was no missing the fact that the warmness was meant for Mal. Mal wondered what she could have possibly done to deserve that and felt much more at home seeing the rude stares and loud whispers from everyone else as she made her way down the hall.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>            Mal couldn’t say exactly what she and Evie were, but she knew she liked it. They held hands under the table at the library and stole quick kisses between classes when no one was paying them any attention. But Mal’s favorite moments by far were still the times spent alone with Evie in the Room of Requirement (she had realized that it had been her favorite thing to do for weeks now).</p><p>            “We came here to study,” Evie reminded Mal as she pulled away from Mal’s lips, only to have Mal pull her in again, arms tightly wrapped around Evie’s neck.</p><p>            “Maybe <em>you</em> came here to study,” Mal replied softly, her lips right next to Evie’s ear. “I came here for you.” Her kisses migrated south to Evie’s neck and, as much as Mal could tell Evie liked it, she finally managed to detangle herself from Mal.</p><p>            “I’m serious,” she said firmly. “This History of Magic test tomorrow is huge.”</p><p>            “Fine,” Mal grumbled as she sat down at the table with all of their study materials hastily thrown over it. “Do I at least get a reward after?”</p><p>            Evie gave Mal one last kiss on the forehead before sitting down next to her. “If you’re good.”</p><p>            The promise of Evie was the best motivation to get her schoolwork done that Mal had ever had. The test was going to cover the Giant Wars, the Witch Hunts, and the Goblin Rebellions, so even with minimal distractions (the exceptions being the times Mal tried to get Evie off track), it still took well into the evening before Evie decided that they could be done.</p><p>            “If I have to read one more word, my brain will implode,” Mal said as she dramatically shut her textbook. “<em>Now </em>can we get dinner?”</p><p>            “It’s only been five minutes since you last asked that,” Evie said, her textbook still open.</p><p>            “I’m hoping you’ll have changed your mind by now. <em>Please</em>?” Mal snuggled up practically on top of Evie and batted her eyelashes. It wasn’t very convincing- this was the first time Mal was using kindness instead of force to get what she wanted, and she wasn’t very good at it.</p><p>            “I don’t know,” Evie said with a worried expression on her face. “I don’t feel solid at all about the witch trials.”</p><p>            Mal climbed on top of Evie’s lap so that they were facing each other and pressed her forehead into Evie’s. “Please? Please, please, <em>please</em>?!”</p><p>            Evie rolled her eyes and playfully pushed Mal off of her. “Don’t go getting all soft on me.” She answered Mal’s pleads by packing up her bag. “Promise me you’ll quiz me?”</p><p>            Mal grabbed Evie’s hand and pulled her out of the room before Evie had time to change her mind. “E, you’re so smart. You don’t need to study- you need to eat.”</p><p>            Mal steered her…study partner down to the Great Hall and sat her down at the Slytherin table. The few icy stares they got Mal countered back when Evie wasn’t looking. They talked about Bowtruckle Island and Newt Scamander until Uma came and told them about how Quidditch was going. Soon Jay and Harry grabbed Carlos from the Hufflepuff table, and all three boys joined in. Carlos talked about all the books he’d seen in the restricted section to a curious Mal, and Jay and Harry took turns throwing food at Uma when she wasn’t looking. It was a new phenomenon for Mal- one of peace and contentment.</p><p>-</p><p>            “Good morning, class,” Professor Binns drawled as he floated through the chalkboard and took his place at the front of the classroom. “I hope you are all well prepared for today’s examination.”</p><p>            An exam paper floated in front of Mal and landed on her desk looking extremely thick. She very briefly thought a quick flame would help slim it down before giving in to the good influences in her life and writing her name at the top.</p><p>            While mindlessly writing about some witch trial or another, Mal thought about how teachers’ exams reflect their personalities. With McGonagall, there was no time for fucking around- you were asked a question and you wrote down the answer and it was either right or wrong and somehow either way you felt like an idiot. With Binns, however, it was more important to write as much as you could than to get any historically accurate facts on the paper. Mal was very good at rambling about bullshit. She was not very good at staying focused long enough to actually write it down.</p><p>            It had been minutes since Mal had put anything down on her paper. Her eyes wandered to the front of the room. Binns was sitting (correction: floating) at his desk and if he weren’t already dead, Mal would have checked his pulse. Boring. Carlos was busy working on his exam, no doubt writing a ten-page essay for one question alone. Been there, seen that. Evie was sitting next to him, also busily writing. Much more interesting.</p><p>            Mal could stare at Evie all day. In fact, she had spent many hours over the past couple months doing exactly that. She took in every last detail- the furrow of Evie’s brow and the anxious way she fiddled with her quill while she was thinking.</p><p>            Evie put down her quill and was staring at her paper. She looked up to see Binns in the exact same position as always with the exact same glazed look in his eyes before ever so subtly reaching for something in her bag. Mal perked up- what was she up to?</p><p>            But it was just her little mirror she carried with her everywhere. Mal didn’t blame Evie one bit for getting bored of the exam, but this was hardly the time to fuss over one’s looks.</p><p>            Except that, as Mal continued to look, that wasn’t what Evie was doing at all. The mirror gave a faint glow that you would have missed if you hadn’t been looking for it, and Evie once again picked up her quill as she began looking form the mirror to her paper and scribbling furiously. Every so often she stole a glance up at Binns, but there was zero chance anything save a troll attack would cause him to look up.</p><p>            Mal couldn’t believe her eyes: the goody-two-shoes Hufflepuff was cheating! Mal was confused and felt the tiniest bit proud of her little Hufflepuff, and then felt more confused, and also for some reason a little hurt. When was Evie going to let Mal in on her secret magic mirror? All the time they had spent studying they could have been doing…well, other things.</p><p>            Mal watched Evie finish up, stash her mirror away, and get up to turn her test in. Mal scrambled to turn in her mostly-blank test without so much as a comment from Binns and ran out the door after Evie.</p><p>“How do you think you did?” Evie asked as Mal came up from behind her.</p><p>Mal’s mouth hung open as she stared at Evie, who somehow looked the same as ever. “I saw you, you know,” Mal finally managed to get out.</p><p>Mal half-expected Evie to fall apart, but of course the princess remained composed. She raised one eyebrow to question Mal. “You saw me do what?”</p><p>“Oh come off it, E! I saw you with your little mirror- you were cheating!”</p><p>Evie’s face hardened and she shoved Mal into the nearest doorway- a broom closet (quite literally a closet full of old Cleansweeps). Evie closed the door behind them, and they were swallowed in darkness until Mal pulled out her wand and gave a quick “Lumos!” The darkened shadows on Evie’s face almost made her more serious, and if Mal’s skin wasn’t so thick she might have almost been a little scared.</p><p>“Quit yelling,” Evie scolded. “Are you trying to alert the whole castle?”</p><p>“So you admit it?!”</p><p>“It’s pretty hard to deny something you just saw.”</p><p>“It’s just, I mean, I’m just trying to think about this for a second. You cheated!”</p><p>“I would think a Slytherin would be okay with it.”</p><p>“Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s a part of me that’s definitely impressed, I mean, who would have ever thought that you could pull something like this off? But it would have been nice to know!” Mal’s voice started to get louder again. “You’ve been making me study this whole time while you’ve been using that thing!”</p><p>“You specifically asked me to help you study.”</p><p>“I really didn’t consider this as an option!”</p><p>Evie gave Mal a hard look, but Mal wasn’t about to back down from this; it was getting increasingly important as the minutes went by despite nothing changing.</p><p>Eventually Evie gave a small sigh. “Okay, look. I haven’t gotten caught yet and I’m definitely not planning on it anytime soon, but I guess if you ever need help, I can lend it to you and-“</p><p>“What? No!”</p><p>Evie took a moment to process Mal’s answer. “No?”</p><p>Mal shifted in her spot. “You- you shouldn’t be doing this at all, E. It’s…wrong.”</p><p>Evie looked stunned and Mal couldn’t blame her; she wasn’t sure at all where this newfound moral compass was coming from.</p><p>“Since when have you had a problem doing something wrong?”</p><p>“Maybe a certain Hufflepuff I’ve been hanging around is rubbing off on me.”</p><p>Evie’s face softened ever so slightly as she leaned against the door. “Look, I know it’s wrong, okay? You think I don’t feel horrible? It’s just-“</p><p>“Your mom.”</p><p>Evie nodded. “I can’t make a mistake, M.”</p><p>“But you know all this stuff without the mirror.”</p><p>“Not like I should- like I need to.”</p><p>Mal leaned back against the door next to Evie. They both slid down and sat on the floor at the same time without looking at each other.</p><p>Suddenly, Mal had an idea. She giggled to herself.</p><p>“What?” Evie asked.</p><p>“Maybe you need a tutor.”</p><p>“Who do you have in mind?”</p><p>“Me, obviously.”</p><p>It was Evie’s turn to laugh.</p><p>“What? It’s not like I have to teach you the stuff, you already know that. I’ll just help with, like, the studying bit; I’ve done that before!”</p><p>“Yesterday when we studied, you sat on me and begged to stop until I gave in.”</p><p>Mal rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, I can stop doing that! It’s for you now, so it actually matters!” She took her spot on Evie’s lap and pressed her forehead against Evie’s. “Please?”</p><p>Evie wrapped her arms around Mal’s neck and pulled Mal’s body even closer. It was the first time Mal had ever seen the blueberry queen not confident; her eyes shifted from Mal to different places around the room and Mal could feel her uneven breathing.</p><p>She needed more convincing. “And the mirror can always be a backup, can’t it? If you don’t take to this whole studying business.”</p><p>Evie couldn’t help but smile at that. She kissed Mal’s neck before burying her face in it. “Okay,” she whispered.</p><p>“And, for what it’s worth, your secret’s safe with me,” Mal added.</p><p>“You’re not mad, are you?” Evie asked.</p><p>“Nah, I’ve done way worse. I guess, I don’t know, I guess I just expected better from you, you know?”</p><p>“I know,” Evie whispered back.</p><p>-</p><p>            This December was colder than most winters Mal could remember, but that didn’t stop a single student from trudging down to the Quidditch pitch bundled up with as many layers as they could fit on their bodies. The match was Ravenclaw against Slytherin this weekend, and the houses were covered head to toe in their respective colors.</p><p>            Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and Harry were all in the Hufflepuff section of the stands. They made sure to get a spot high up so that they could see Uma dominate on the field (‘dominate’ was the word Uma had used the night before to describe her flying). The red and green of Gryffindor and Slytherin were vibrant against the yellow, but Mal tried not to think so much about that.</p><p>            The freezing air helped her more than anything else. Like usual, she had worn her famous leather jacket, and it was doing a terrible job at keeping her warm. Uma, like always, had warned her to put on something more before she left and Mal, like always, ignored her. It was the first time Mal could remember that she regretted not listening to the advice.</p><p>            “Have you brought gloves or anything?” Evie looked Mal over as they waited for the match to start.</p><p>            “Don’t worry about me,” Mal replied.</p><p>            “Well <em>someone’s</em> got to,” Evie muttered as she took off her coat and put it around Mal’s shoulders. Mal’s protests were silenced both by Evie’s glare and the warmth that instantly encompassed her.</p><p>            “Okay Carlos, no need to panic,” Jay said suddenly. “You got this.”</p><p>            “What have I got?”</p><p>            Jay pointed down the crowd a bit and they all looked to see jane making her way past people, clearing headed in Carlos’ direction. When she saw him looking at her, she smiled and gave a small wave.</p><p>            “I don’t think I got this.”</p><p>            “Sure you do, Curly,” Mal said. “Just make it fast- Uma’s coming out soon.”</p><p>            Evie jabbed Mal in the side with her elbow. “Just tell her something you like about her.”</p><p>            Jay clapped Carlos on the shoulders. “Tell her you want to go to the dance with her.”</p><p>            “We aren’t getting any younger, you know,” Harry added.</p><p>            “Hi everyone,” Jane greeted as she finally made her way to the group. “Hi Carlos.”</p><p>            “Hey Jane,” Carlos greeted back.</p><p>            “Do you mind if I join you guys?” she asked as she looked around at everyone.</p><p>            “Not at all!” Evie answered (perhaps a little quicker than she should have).</p><p>            “I think it’s so nice how you guys come to the Hufflepuff section so you can watch the match together,” Jane started. “it makes it more fun, I think, to have friends from all the houses.”</p><p>            “You’re so right, Jane,” Evie said. “And you know, we’ll all be able to hang out at the Yule Ball. Are you going?”</p><p>            Mal quickly returned Evie’s elbow jab at the horribly obvious attempt to change the topic. Jay and Harry were looking at Evie with a mix of contempt and exhaustion. Carlos looked like he wanted nothing more than for a stray Quaffle to knock Evie out.</p><p>            “Yes of course!” Jane answered just as happily as ever. “It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun! Are you all going?”</p><p>            Everyone nodded, and Jane looked happier than ever.</p><p>            “Do you have a date yet?” Carlos asked her. He looked slightly more panicked than usual, but Mal was impressed that he actually got the words out.</p><p>            “Not yet,” Jane said.</p><p>            “We could- I mean, if you wanted to- we could go together,” Carlos managed to get out. The boy deserved a round of applause just for staying on his feet.</p><p>            Jane beamed. “I’d like that,” she said.</p><p>            Carlos smiled with relief. “Okay!” he said.</p><p>            “Okay,” said Jane.</p><p>            “’Ere they come!” Harry interrupted as the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams flew onto the pitch. Madame Hooch was on the ground ready to release the balls and start the game.</p><p>            Macey Sullivan was always more enthusiastic when Ravenclaw was playing. “Another beautiful day for Quidditch! It looks like the two captains are joining Madame Hooch on the field and ready to start! Of course we have Tilly Hensley, the spectacular Ravenclaw captain, up against Roger Winters and the rest of the Slytherin team.”</p><p>            Mal felt pushing behind her and looked around to see Aiden, the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain, making his way to Harry and Jay.</p><p>            “What do you think of Ravenclaw this year mates? It’s Tilly’s first year as captain.”</p><p>            “Tilly’s tough,” Jay said.</p><p>            “Tough? Ah’ve seen tree branches bigger than the girl!” Harry laughed.</p><p>            “Sure, but do you remember last year when she broke her arm and still caught the snitch?” Jay reminded his friend.</p><p>            “The Slytherin Beaters will certainly take her down if she gets too close,” Aiden noted.</p><p>            “She’s on a bloody Firebolt!” Jay argued back. “Who’s gonna get near her?”</p><p>            Hooch’s whistle to signal the start of the game interrupted the boys’ speculations. Pretty soon, it was clear that Jay had been right; Tilly’s Firebolt was no match for any broom on the Slytherin team. Mal tried her best to keep her eyes on Uma, but with so much going on in the air it was impossible to keep track.</p><p>            The match was over fairly quickly; Tilly caught the Snitch after only three goals between the teams. Mal audibly groaned not just because her House lost, but because she would have to spend the next week with Uma in a nasty mood. She could already see members of the Slytherin team landing and throwing their brooms down in defeat while Ravenclaw celebrated in the sky above them.</p><p>            “Victory for Ravenclaw!” Macey screamed. The rest of the Ravenclaw house was screaming with her.</p><p>            “Ravenclaw’s gonna be tough to beat this year,” Aiden commented.</p><p>            “No shit,” Harry retorted.</p><p>            “Well, my day is officially ruined,” Mal stated.</p><p>            “Oh, don’t be such a spoil sport,” Evie nuzzled her and zipped up her coat Mal was still wearing. “We can go and study and warm up.”</p><p>            “Oh God, let’s get out of here; I know what ‘study’ is code for,” Jay grabbed Harry and Carlos and the boys quickly made their way out.</p><p>            “I’ll see you later,” Carlos told Jane as Jay dragged him away. Jane smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Jane ran off soon after; presumably to squeal with all of her little friends.</p><p>            “Come on then, let’s warm up,” Evie said as she took Mal’s hand.</p><p>            “We’re gonna have to go find Uma,” Mal told her as they walked with the rest of the students back to the castle.</p><p>            “Alright- where will she be?”</p><p>            “Bitching with the rest of the team.”</p><p>            It was true- Mal and Evie found the Slytherin team outside of the Great Hall complaining to each other and anyone that would listen. There was no debate that Ravenclaw had won fair and square- even the team could see that. It was mostly an argument of what they had done wrong and what they should have done instead.</p><p>            “You think I can compete with a bloody Firebolt?” one of the teammates was screaming at Roger.</p><p>            “You could at least try!” Roger yelled back.</p><p>            “Do you mind telling Aisling that?” Uma asked Roger sarcastically.</p><p>            “Only one of us scored a goal today Uma,” the Chaser named Aisling retorted. “And it wasn’t you.”</p><p>            “You wanna say that again?” Uma snarled through gritted teeth as she stepped towards Aisling.</p><p>            Mal grabbed Uma by the shoulders and pulled her back. “Not today, princess,” she said to Uma as she dragged her back towards where Evie was standing.</p><p>            “It was a good game, Uma,” Evie said, trying to be helpful.</p><p>            “Don’t patronize me,” Uma replied.</p><p>            Uma’s comment didn’t faze Evie in the least. “How about some hot chocolate? You must be freezing after playing up so high.”</p><p>            “The Great Hall doesn’t have hot chocolate right now,” Uma told her.</p><p>            Evie smiled. “Poor Uma- so dependent on the Great Hall for food.”</p><p>            Uma was so surprised at the sass from Evie that she didn’t even think about getting mad. She exchanged glances with Mal as Evie led them down to the basement and past the Hufflepuff common room to a painting of fruit. She stroked the pear and Mal was caught off guard when the pear let out a laugh and turned into a big door handle.</p><p>            “What the fuck Hogwarts?” Uma’s comment pretty much summed up what Mal was thinking.</p><p>            Evie opened the door and revealed the Hogwarts kitchen on the other side, busy with House-elves washing dishes, chopping vegetables, and cooking over dozens of stoves.</p><p>            “How long have you known about this?” Mal asked Evie.</p><p>            “It’s pretty common knowledge in Hufflepuff,” Evie explained. “Seeing as we’re right down the hall.”</p><p>            “You could have been sneaking us extra pudding this whole time?” Uma looked genuinely offended.</p><p>            “You’re here now, aren’t you?” Evie said as she began making her way into the kitchen, weaving through busy House-elves barely giving the three witches the time of day.</p><p>            “Miss Evie is back!” A tiny voice shouted. Mal looked down to see a House-elf running up to them with a toothy grin.</p><p>            “Hello, Pitts. It’s lovely to see you,” Evie greeted him. “These are my friends: Uma and Mal.”</p><p>            Mal and Uma gave a small wave, unsure of what the proper etiquette for greeting a House-elf was. Surprisingly, Mal had never had a House-elf back home. Maleficent wasn’t one for trusting strangers in the house, even if a House-elf was bound to secrecy.</p><p>            “Does Miss Evie and company need anything to eat?” Pitts asked.</p><p>            “We were wondering if you had any hot chocolate. It’s pretty cold outside.”</p><p>            Pitts rushed off and, not three minutes later, the girls were leaving the kitchen with hot chocolate and an enthusiastic send-off from Pitts: “You come back anytime!”</p><p>            “Feel better?” Evie asked Uma as she watched her sip her drink.</p><p>            “Mind your own damn business,” Uma replied, which Mal knew was code for ‘yes- I am feeling better’.</p><p>            “E, you’ve got a little something- right there.” Mal pointed to Evie’s lip covered in whipped cream while trying not to laugh. Evie wiped it away and took her mirror out of her bag to check her face. Mal’s mood instantly plummeted- she hated that mirror now. She hated what it represented, and she hated that it was a very tangible wedge between her and Evie.</p><p>            It was not hard to sense that Mal’s mood had turned; as impenetrable as she claimed to be, the air around her darkened when she did. Uma and Evie sensed it instantly but, unlike Evie, Uma was not privy to the reason why.</p><p>            “You got something shoved up your ass?” Uma asked her.</p><p>            “Mind your own damn business,” Mal replied, which was code for ‘yes- I very much do have something shoved up my ass’.</p><p>            “Well get it out, or I’m ditching you for the team.”</p><p>            So Mal stayed silent on the matter. She watched as Evie put her mirror away and Evie watched Mal watching her put the mirror away. Now both girl’s moods had soured, but while Mal’s swirled around angrily like a thunderstorm, Evie’s turned gray and heavy with guilt as she looked at the hot chocolate she was holding and nothing else.</p><p>            Uma looked at each girl before announcing, “Alright, I’m out; I refuse to third-wheel this. Good luck figuring whatever this is out.” And she took off, presumably to go find the rest of the team and punch Aisling as hard as she could without getting in trouble for it.</p><p>            Mal and Evie were left to walk around in silence. After a bit Evie said, “Do you wanna go to the library or something?”</p><p>            Mal was not in the mood and Evie already knew it. “Nah, I might just head back to my common room for a bit.”</p><p>            “Okay. I’ll see you later then?”</p><p>            “For sure.”</p><p>            For the first time in a long time, Mal desperately wanted to think about something other than Evie or that stupid mirror. She started towards the dungeons but ended up wandering towards the front entrance of the castle. She stopped at a spot seemingly random if you were just passing by, but a careful look revealed a small lion no bigger than Mal’s hand etched in the stone, pacing back and forth. It was the same spot she had seen that dead Gryffindor girl in her third year, which felt more like a lifetime ago. She sat down and dragged her finger across the wall, teasing and tempting the lion into playing with her like a cat-and-mouse game.</p><p>            Why she was here, she had no idea. She had avoided it for so long after her mother had attacked, but now it was one more thing that she felt drawn to as if she were in a spell she couldn’t break out of. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized how many things were out there that did that to her.</p><p>            And Evie was slowly but surely becoming one of them, although not in the way Mal was used to. Being drawn in by her mother meant nothing more than getting hurt in the end. It wasn’t like that with Evie, and yet here Mal was, feeling hurt like always.</p><p>            She had lived her whole life being told that emotions were weakness. Then Evie and all of her friends came and showed her a different way, but now Mal wasn’t sure what was true at all. Maybe her ending up hurt was inevitable and nothing, not even Evie, could change that.</p><p>-</p><p>            Mal skipped breakfast the next morning and went right to Potions with Uma. Slytherins and Hufflepuffs took Potions together and while mal wasn’t particularly excited to see Evie, she wanted nothing more than it at the exact same time.</p><p>            But when the Hufflepuffs all filed in and took their seats, Evie wasn’t with them. Carlos was sitting next to an empty seat talking to Jane across from him.</p><p>            Mal went over to investigate. “Hey Curly, where’s Evie?”</p><p>            Carlos shrugged, but it was stiff with concern. “I haven’t seen her all morning.”</p><p>            “She wasn’t in our room when I woke up,” Jane added.</p><p>            “But she never misses class!” Mal protested as if Jane and Carlos could actually do something about it.</p><p>            “I’m sure she’s fine,” Jane tried to assure her as Slughorn walked in and Mal had to go back to her table.</p><p>            But Evie didn’t show up for the entire class. And she wasn’t in the Great Hall or the Hufflepuff common room. She wasn’t in the library, the Room of Requirement, or any of the courtyards. Mal even hiked up to the Owlery, but she wasn’t there either (although Bennett was more than happy to greet her with a shriek and a sharp peck).</p><p>             By the end of the day, it had been the longest Mal had gone without seeing Evie since they started hanging out, and even Uma thought it was strange that the girl had seemed to vanish.</p><p>            Mal made an appearance at dinner just in case Evie turned up, but quickly left when she made eye contact with Carlos and he shook his head to tell her she was out of luck. She wandered back down to the dungeons feeling miserable and in the mood to see absolutely no one, so she went to the one spot she could be alone.</p><p>            But when she got to her cell, it was already open. Mal was ready to fuck up whoever had compromised her special hiding place until she realized with a “Lumos!” that it was Evie sat huddled in the corner.</p><p>            It was obvious that Evie had spent the day sitting here and crying, but now there were no tears, only a small sniffle as Mal knelt down next to her.</p><p>            “We were all worried about you when we couldn’t find you,” Mal told her.</p><p>            “Sorry,” Evie sniffled.</p><p>            “Is it something I did?” Mal asked.</p><p>            “No,” was all that Evie said.</p><p>            “What happened?”</p><p>            “I really messed up.”</p><p>            “Come on, don’t say that- you’re…Evie.”</p><p>            “I’m not perfect. Obviously.”</p><p>            “I think you are.”</p><p>            Evie started whimpering at that and she started softly crying, covering her face to avoid being seen in this state. Mal crawled closer to the girl, trying to remember what Evie had done to help her in this cell all those weeks ago. She put her arm around Evie and rested her head on Evie’s shoulder. Evie drew closer to Mal, still crying, and once again they sat like that in silence.</p><p>            Mal had nothing to say to help the situation, so she waited for Evie to speak. It took awhile for Evie to stop crying and get control of her breathing.</p><p>            “I told Sprout.”</p><p>            That meant nothing to Mal. “You told Sprout what?”</p><p>            “About my mirror.”</p><p>            That was the most unexpected thing Evie could have said. Mal had never considered admitting anything to any professor.</p><p>            “What did she say?”</p><p>            “She took it, obviously. It was my mom’s.”</p><p>            “I’m sorry.”</p><p>            “She’s sending a letter home to my mom. She’s gonna kill me.”</p><p>            “Are you expelled?”</p><p>            “No.”</p><p>            Relief swept over Mal. “That’s good.”</p><p>            “And I lost fifty house points for Hufflepuff.”</p><p>            “So what? Hufflepuff isn’t gonna win anyway.”</p><p>            “And I’m not allowed to go to the ball.”</p><p>            Mal sat up. “The Yule Ball?!”</p><p>            “We’re only having one ball.”</p><p>            “But you’re so excited to go!”</p><p>            “Well, that’s what happens when you confess to your crimes.”</p><p>            Mal paused for a moment. “Why did you? I wasn’t going to tell.”</p><p>            “I know. I didn’t tell because of you. Well, I guess I kind of did. You were right- it was wrong. I always knew it was wrong, but I guess I told myself that’s it’s what I needed to do to survive. To be the best for my mom.”</p><p>            “So she could be proud of you.”</p><p>            Evie shook her head. “She’ll never be proud of me, no matter how good my grades are. It’ll never be enough. Telling Flitwick about my mirror was for me; I want to be a better person. I want to be the person you think I am.”</p><p>            Mal didn’t know what to say to that, so she put her head back on Evie’s shoulder and let Evie stroke her hair for a bit.</p><p>            “You make me better, M.”</p><p>            “You make me better too, E.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Trouble with Peeves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't think I have anything to say except THANK YOU once again for all your love. Your comments and support mean the world to me.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“What’s going on here?!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal jumped when she heard the voice behind her and whipped around, her mouth already forming an excuse as to why she was sneaking around a professor’s office. But when she turned around, it was only Peeves cackling at how easily he had made Mal jump.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You scared me!” she berated him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Music to my ears!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Whatever. Just promise me you’ll be quiet, okay?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peeves flew around the room. “Peeves makes no promises!” he yelled in a much more annoying tone than usual.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Come on, Peeves!” Mal pled. “I thought you liked tricks!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peeves came to a halt mid-air; Mal had caught his attention. “Tricks, you say?” He flew down to where Mal was crouched behind the desk to get a better look at what she was doing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She was dragging out a large trunk from underneath the desk. The truck had a comically large lock on it (supposedly to keep people out but, seeing as this was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor’s office, it was much more likely keeping something in).</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What do you think,” she eyed Peeves with a smirk and a twinkle in her eye, “we could do with a Boggart?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peeves giggled with delight and clapped his hands together. Mal was surprised to find out that the clapping of his hands actually made a sound; she had always assumed that Peeves was more of a glorified ghost.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Very mean! Mal is a very mean girl!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal fumbled a bit with the lock, making sure it was sturdy and would stay in place until she was ready to open it. “Yeah, well, that’s what those goddam Ravenclaws get for making fun of my spell work. Now how do you suppose I get this to the Ravenclaw common room without anyone seeing?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peeves grinned. “Perhaps what little Mally needs is a partner.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal was impressed with the strength of someone that you could throw things through. Peeves picked up the chest with no problem and followed her out the office, through the hallways, and up the spiral staircase to the top of the Ravenclaw Tower. He floated high above where no one would look, and even if someone spotted him, Mal figured there was no way she could go down for it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But they made it all the way to the outside of the Ravenclaw common room without raising suspicion. Peeves floated down and placed the chest outside the door in front of Mal.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “I suppose little Mally has a plan?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Give me a second.” Mal looked carefully at the bronze eagle where a doorknob should be.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Is there life after death?” was the question that came from the eagle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Fuck if I know.” Mal said, mostly to herself.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “No answer, no trick!” Peeves told her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “I know, Peeves! Give me a goddam second!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            What would a Ravenclaw say? Something smart, obviously. Or, more likely, something that wasn’t actually that clever but made them think they were better than everyone else. Stupid Ravenclaws.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “It’s never just a straight-forward answer,” she told Peeves (and herself). She turned and faced the eagle. “Life goes on even after your death, it’s just not your life.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Excellently surmised,” the eagle told her as the door swung open.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Excellently surmised,” Mal repeated in a mocking tone as she ducked next to the wall to avoid being seen by anyone already in the common room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            She took out her wand and pointed it at the lock. “Alright Peeves, as soon as this baby is open, you push the trunk in, and we make a run for it.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Peeves flew behind the truck while Mal gave a quiet “Alohomora!” and immediately shoved it into the room as the lock clicked open. Mal shut the door in front of them and ran back down the spiral staircase with Peeves flying past her and shooting off out of sight.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Mal continued to walk quickly (she didn’t want to attract attention) through the castle, down to the dungeons, and into her own common room where she knew Uma would be lounging about.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            No one paid her much attention as she caught her breath and scanned the room for Uma. She was laying around on a couch talking to a couple other Slytherins when Mal raced over and pulled her up off of the couch. She dragged her all the way back to their room, where it was thankfully empty, and shut the door.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Ow! What gives?” Uma pushed Mal off of her and smoothed out her robes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “You’ll never guess what I’ve done,” Mal told her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “From your expression I’ll assume you’ve discovered a hidden pot of Galleons.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Not even close.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Go on- tell me then.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Mal bit her lip, trying not to look as pleased as she felt. “I let a Boggart loose in the Ravenclaw common room.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “What? Why?”</em>
</p><p><em>            “Because they were dicks to me in class, remember? Let’s see how well </em>they<em> handle a Boggart.”</em></p><p>
  <em>            “Did you make sure the kids in the common room are the same kids that laughed at you?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Well…no. But it doesn’t matter though, does it? They’re all dicks in Ravenclaw.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Uma took a moment to size up what Mal had done. Mal could see that she wasn’t sure of what Mal had done, but Mal didn’t need Uma’s approval anyway. This was something she had done for herself.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “I’m worried about you, you know.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Why? I’m not gonna get caught.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “I’m talking about you pulling shit like this in the first place.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “What? You love pranks!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “I love replacing the soap in the bathroom with Frog Spawn Soap; I’m not on board with whatever this is.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Mal folded her arms. “You don’t have to be a part of it then.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Uma almost looked sad, although Mal had no idea why. “Girl, you know I’m always with you. But you might want to think about taking it down a couple notches.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Do you mean going back to Frog Spawn Soap?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Uma shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt- I’ve got some more if you still want to fuck with those Ravenclaws.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            Mal considered it. There was no doubt in her mind that a Boggart would do far more damage than some tadpoles in the bathroom, but it was a question of whether or not Mal wanted Uma to keep giving her that weary look.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            “Yeah, alright, if that’s what you want.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            And so they did. It didn’t give Mal the same burning satisfaction that the Boggart had, but she enjoyed Uma’s company.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            The next day Mal was pleased to find that the castle was buzzing with news not of Frog Spawn Soap, but of the Boggart that had been slipped into the Ravenclaw common room. Every professor lectured about the dangers of Boggarts had threatened whoever had done it to come clean, but Mal wasn’t at all worried. Uma would never squeal on her, and she had a feeling Peeves liked chaos more than he liked tattling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>            In Mal’s eyes, chaos had reigned. And the thought of all of the future trouble she could (and would) cause kept her happier than she had been in a long time.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>            The letters came two days after Evie had confessed to Flitwick. Mal and Uma were eating breakfast at the Hufflepuff table with Evie, Carlos, and Jane when the owls swooped in with the mail. Mal, of course, didn’t look up, but took note of the rest of her friends around her receiving letters.</p><p>            “Mom’s upset I’m staying here for Christmas,” Jane told everyone. “but she says she understands. Apparently, she didn’t get a ball when she was at Hogwarts.”</p><p>            “My mom says basically the same thing,” Uma said as she scanned her letter. “I bet this ball is gonna fuck with a lot of family plans.”</p><p>            “Maybe we should talk about something else,” Carlos told them as he eyed Mal and Evie’s expressions from across the table.</p><p>            “It’s fine, Carlos,” Evie said as she stared at the two letters in front of her that remained unopened. “What are you gonna wear, Jane?”</p><p>            “I’m not entirely sure yet; it’s not like Hogsmeade has a formal dress shop or anything. Where do you get your clothes? You always look so cute!”</p><p>            “Oh, thank you!” Evie perked up at the mention of fashion. “Actually, I make most of the things I wear.”</p><p>            “You do?” Mal asked her. She hadn’t known that about Evie, but the subject of fashion rarely came up in any conversation involving Mal.</p><p>            “You do?” Jane parroted. “Do you think you could make me something?”</p><p>            Evie smiled. It was the first genuine smile Mal had seen from the girl in two days. “I’d love to! What are you thinking?”</p><p>            “Honestly, I have no idea. I trust your fashion expertise.”</p><p>            “I’m sure I can whip up something. I’ll take your measurements after dinner tonight, okay?”</p><p>            Jane nodded.</p><p>            “Great! If you’ll excuse me,” Evie stood up and grabbed her letters. “I’ll see you two in class, okay?” she said to Jane and Carlos before walking away.</p><p>            Mal got up and went after her. “And just where do you think you’re going?” she said when she caught up to Evie.</p><p>            “I’m not skipping again if that’s what you think, I just need a moment alone.”</p><p>            “Okay.”</p><p>            Evie began to walk away again and again, Mal followed her.</p><p>            Evie stopped and looked at Mal following her. “I’m serious, Mal.”</p><p>            “You haven’t opened your letters yet.”</p><p>            “Yes, I know.”</p><p>            “Who are they from?”</p><p>            “My mom and dad.”</p><p>            “Why haven’t you opened them?”</p><p>            “I wasn’t exactly in the mood to read them in front of everyone.”</p><p>            Mal looked around the empty hallway. “No one’s around now.”</p><p>            Evie looked at Mal with a face of exhaustion. “I know you’re smarter than this.”</p><p>            “Do you really want to be alone?”</p><p>            “Yes. I promise I’ll go to class; Carlos will make sure of that.”</p><p>            “Fine.” Mal stood on her tiptoes to kiss Evie’s cheek and left her alone. It was almost time for class anyways and kids were slowly filing out of the Great Hall and making their ways to class. Mal watched Evie disappear with the crowd headed towards the grounds and only caught a glimpse of her tearing open an envelope before Uma found her and they headed to Transfiguration.</p><p>            Transfiguration had become entirely uneventful these days; Mal was no longer horrible enough to be on McGonagall’s watchlist, nor was she good enough to win any praise. She couldn’t even remember the last time McGonagall had held her after class to talk to her about her “potential”.</p><p>            She and Uma worked all class turning their ferrets into feather dusters (Mal was able to completely transfigure the little bastard on her third try), and when it was time to go Mal was met in the hallway by something heavy swooping onto her head and a sharp peck on her ear.</p><p>            “Ow! Fucking- Bennett!”</p><p>            Bennett the owl was now perched on Mal’s shoulder with a crumpled-up note in his mouth. Mal hesitantly reached for the paper, and Bennett managed to get a quick nip at her finger before she could pull her hand away.</p><p>            The note was in Evie’s handwriting and just read “<strong>OWLERY</strong>”.</p><p>            Mal turned to look Bennett in the eyes. “She’s up there, isn’t she?”</p><p>            Bennett responded with a screech and took off again, getting one last opportunity to hurt Mal as he dug his claws into her shoulder before takeoff. He zig-zagged through students and Mal assumed he was headed back to the owlery to join Evie.</p><p>            “I’ll see you later,” Mal told Uma before taking off after Bennett.</p><p>            Bennett was at the top of the Owlery long before Mal, and so she found him perched comfortably on Evie’s shoulder looking pleased with himself as Evie scratched the top of his head. Evie was sitting on a hopefully clean part of the floor. She looked up at Mal as she rounded the top of the stairs and walked over to the girl and her owl.</p><p>            “I didn’t skip class,” Evie said before Mal could say anything.</p><p>            Mal sat down next to Evie. “That’s good.”</p><p>            Evie took out two pieces of paper from her pocket and handed them to Mal without looking her way. She focused instead on petting Bennett. Mal looked at what Evie had handed her- the letters from this morning.</p><p>            She read the longer one first:</p><p>            <strong><em>My Dearest,</em></strong></p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>            We will figure something out. I will talk to your mother when she has cooled off. In the meantime, please do your best in school- I will be in touch soon.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>            Much love,</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>            Father</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>            Next was the other letter, which was only one sentence long and presumably from Evie’s mother. It read:</p><p>            <strong><em>Come home with my mirror or do not come home at all.</em></strong></p><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p>            Mal barely knew anything about Evie’s family except that her mom was an absolute asshole, and this letter only proved that point. Mal was convinced that she had the mother of all mommy issues (no pun intended), but Evie’s mom certainly gave her a run for her money.</p><p>            “What are you gonna do?” Mal asked her, although she couldn’t imagine Evie had much of an answer.</p><p>            “I need to get my mom’s mirror back.”</p><p>            “Will Sprout give it back?”</p><p>            “I doubt it; she looked so angry I’m surprised she hasn’t sicked the Ministry on me.”</p><p>            “Doesn’t mean we can’t get it back.”</p><p>            Now Evie looked at Mal. “We?”</p><p>            “Of course. I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve made quite the career out of breaking into professor’s offices.”</p><p>            Evie didn’t seem very cheered up at the notion. She took the letters back from Mal and stared at them, ignoring Bennett as he playfully nipped to get back her attention.</p><p>            “Come on- letters don’t mean anything. Look,” Mal opened up her bag and took out a roll of paper. She ripped a bit off, got her quill, and quickly scribbled something down. She got up, fetched one of the school owls, and handed it the letter.</p><p>            “This needs to go to Slughorn. And make it fast.”</p><p>            The owl took off through the window and quickly became nothing more than a dot in the sky headed towards the castle. Mal spun around to look at Evie with a lopsided grin.</p><p>            Evie still looked sad, but her curiosity got the better of her. “What did you send him?”</p><p>            “I  sent him a picture of a butt.”</p><p>            Mal couldn’t help but laugh at herself, and Evie laughed at Mal laughing. “You’re going to get in trouble!” Evie scolded.</p><p>            Mal ripped off another piece of paper. “Only if I get caught. Who should this one go to?”</p><p>            Evie stood up and grabbed the paper away from Mal. “You’re not sending butts to people!” She grabbed the quill from Mal and used Mal’s back as a hard surface to write on. “If you <em>must</em> send people mail, at least make it something actually funny.”</p><p>            Evie gave the note to another school owl. “To Filch, please.”</p><p>            Mal watched the owl fly off with the note. “What did you say?”</p><p>            Evie smiled. “I told him Harry’s planning on hiding a bunch of stink bombs around the castle.”</p><p>            Mal couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re my hero.” She handed the roll of parchment to Evie. “Do another one.”</p><p>            The two girls spent a good fifteen minutes using various school owls to send out letters to the people at Hogwarts- mostly professors, although Mal did send Uma a butt drawing with a very rude comment attached.</p><p>            They stood at the window and watched the last owl they sent fly off to deliver a very confusing note to Audrey.</p><p>            “See?” Mal said. “Crime is easy. And fun, too. Welcome to your new life.”</p><p>            Evie’s mouth fell open in disbelief, but the twinkle in her eye let Mal know that she wasn’t horrified. “Am I dating a criminal?”</p><p>            Mal’s entire brain short-circuited. “Are you what?”</p><p>            Evie didn’t understand what had tripped Mal up and continued to tease her. “You haven’t spent time in Azkaban, have you?”</p><p>            Mal completely ignored the comment. “Dating?”</p><p>            Evie was now completely caught up. “I mean, aren’t we?”</p><p>            “I don’t know- I’ve never dated anyone.”</p><p>            “Do you want to?”</p><p>            Mal paused to consider the question; no one had ever asked her about what she wanted before. There was no denying that having Evie in her life made everything better. If Mal didn’t know better, she would have almost said she was happy.</p><p>            “Okay.”</p><p>            She had no doubt in her mind that she was going to ruin this.</p><p>-</p><p>            “And remember- your essays on Slowing Charms are due next class! I expect a full twelve inches! That goes for <em>everyone</em>,” Professor Flitwick gave Harry a long stare at the mention of the essay as the fifth years filed out of the room.</p><p>            “Do you wanna do something before dinner?” Mal asked Uma.</p><p>            “I’ve got Quidditch. Roger’s working us harder than ever after the match with Ravenclaw. But I’ll meet you at our table, okay?”</p><p>            “Okay.”</p><p>            Without someone to hang out with, Mal headed back down to the Slytherin common room to change out of her robes and see who she could bother. Unfortunately, she was greeted at the door by Peeves and another flock of Doxys.</p><p>            “Again?” Mal asked the poltergeist as she swatted one away from her face.</p><p>            Peeves turned to look at her and grinned. “Well, they were such a success the first time! And Peeves must admit, he’s been waiting for you!”</p><p>            That couldn’t be good. “What an honor.” She went to walk closer to the common room door, but Peeves threw a handful of Doxys at her.</p><p>            “Peeves!” she yelled at him as she swatted them away, trying not to get bit. “What do you want?”</p><p>            “That’s better. Little ol’ Peeves has a teeny-weeny favor for Ickle Mally.”</p><p>            Oh yeah, that. Mal knew making a deal with Peeves would eventually bite her in the ass, but she hadn’t expected it to be this soon.</p><p>            “Okay, just lay it on me. What is it?”</p><p>            Peeves’ face soured. “Peeves has heard talk about this Yule Ball.”</p><p>            Mal didn’t like where this was going. “Yeah- it’s in two weeks.”</p><p>            “Too many happy students! Peeves won’t have it!” Peeves flew to Mal and got in her face until his nose was almost touching hers. “Mal must find a trick. A big trick! A big trick to ruin the ball!”</p><p>            “I don’t know, Peeves.” Even just a couple months ago, the idea of ruining the Yule Ball with a massive prank would have appealed to Mal, but so much had changed recently that she couldn’t hide her hesitation.</p><p>            Peeves erupted into the air screaming, “Yes! Yes! Mal will do it! Mal will do it or she will be sorry!”</p><p>            “Okay, okay! Stop screaming for fuck’s sake.”</p><p>            Peeves listened and flew back to Mal. “Peeves wants a <em>big</em> trick!”</p><p>            “Why can’t you do it? You’d love it.”</p><p>            “That is true, but Peeves has a tight schedule- no time for big tricks!” He laughed to himself and flew off, but not before leaving Mal with one last reminder.</p><p>            “Big trick, or Mal will be very sorry!”</p><p>            Mal couldn’t tell if it was the Doxys biting at her or the feeling of impending doom, but she suddenly felt very terrible.</p><p>-</p><p>            Mal suddenly had a lot on her plate, not to mention her actual schoolwork that was slowly piling up, so she decided she needed to hurry up and get some shit done, starting with getting her girlfriend’s mirror back.</p><p>            Mal still hated it. She wanted to puke just thinking about touching it. But it was important to Evie, and it was very apparent that it was going to weigh heavy on her mind until she got it back. It was a good place to start.</p><p>            “Are you sure she put it in her office?” Mal asked Evie. They were sitting on Mal’s bed in the Hospital Wing; she had several other Slytherins had been bitten by Doxys and needed an antidote from Madame Pomfrey.</p><p>            “Yes- she told me that’s where she would keep it.”</p><p>            “Okay, so it’s in Greenhouse One, that’s easy enough. Nothing in there is gonna kill us.”</p><p>            “What, you’re just gonna walk right in?”</p><p>            “Pretty much. When she’s not there, obviously. You have Herbology tomorrow, right?”</p><p>            “Yes, in Greenhouse Four.”</p><p>            “So you just make sure that she doesn’t leave during your class, and I’ll pop in, grab the mirror, and pop out. So easy.”</p><p>            “You have class at the same time. Hagrid will definitely notice you’re gone.”</p><p>            “So I’ll milk these Doxy bites and get out of class tomorrow. I was poisoned, after all.”</p><p>            Evie took Mal’s hand and inspected her arms; they were still covered in bites. “How did you get so many? No one has nearly as many as you. Didn’t you run away?”</p><p>            “Not at first. I was talking to Peeves.”</p><p>            “Why?”</p><p>            Mal hadn’t told Evie about her wonderful conversation and new mission given to her by the poltergeist. “One thing at a time, okay? This time tomorrow, you’ll have your mom’s mirror back.”</p><p>            And so their first scheme as a couple was set. Mal was an expert at getting out of classes, and it barely took any convincing to get Madame Pomfrey to give her the day off. With bites all over her face, arms, and legs, Pomfrey almost insisted Mal spend the day in her common room resting and recovering.</p><p>            The next afternoon, Mal waited until all the Slytherins had gone to class before heading out and making her way to the back of the castle where all the greenhouses were nested. She peered into the window of Greenhouse One, but as expected it was completely empty.</p><p>            She had no problem getting into Sprout’s office with a quick “Alohomora!” and began her search for the magic mirror.</p><p>            She tried all the obvious places: the desk drawers, the bookshelves, and crates that were stacked under tables, but there was nothing that even resembled a mirror. She sat in Pomfrey’s chair, discouraged and ever aware of the minutes ticking away.</p><p>            “Wait,” she said to herself. “What am I doing? I’m a goddam wizard.” She took her wand out and swished it around while saying “Accio mirror!”</p><p>            There was a disappointing lack of mirrors flying towards her, but she heard a strange thumping coming from the bookcase behind her. Upon further inspection, she saw a book shaking in its spot, desperate to get out.</p><p>            “Secret books,” Mal whispered to herself as she took it out, opened it, and dodged just in time as Evie’s mirror flew out of a space in the book and flew towards Mal’s face. It landed on the ground and, thankfully, didn’t shatter.</p><p>            Mal put the book back exactly as she found it (minus the shaking) and picked up the recovered mirror. “I hate you,” she told it, but the mirror gave no indication that it had head her.</p><p>            She left Greenhouse One, carful not to leave behind any trace that she was there. She made her way back to the dungeons and waited in her cell for Evie where they had both agreed to meet once Evie’s class let out.</p><p>            It took fifteen minutes for Evie to come down. “Well?” she asked when she saw Mal’s face illuminated from the Lumos she had cast.</p><p>            Mal grinned and held up her treasure. Evie gave a small squeal of delight and ran over, grabbing the mirror and engulfing Mal in a huge hug at the same time. Mal held onto Evie just as tightly.</p><p>            “You got it!” It was an obvious statement, but Mal grinned at how happy Evie sounded saying it. “Thank you!”</p><p>            “Don’t mention it.”</p><p>            Evie pulled away from Mal, but her hands still gripped Mal’s arms tightly. “I’m serious, M. Thank you. This means so much to me.”</p><p>            “Anything for you, princess,” Mal said as she drew closer to Evie’s mouth. Evie let herself be taken by Mal’s lips and, with no one around to see, they connected. Evie’s wand stopped glowing and they were plunged into darkness, but neither girl noticed. Mal was only aware of the taste of Evie’s lips and the cold hand that slowly made its way up her back.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Partners In Crime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's a short one bc we are so close to the end!<br/>Food mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“You finished packing already?” Uma looked at Mal’s trunk on her bed. Packing was a loose term; Mal had mostly thrown her belongings as she found them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Mostly, yeah, just a couple things left; I can’t find my other glove.” Mal squatted and looked under her bed, but she still came up empty-handed. “The train’s coming tomorrow, remember?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah, but this is the first year you’ve started packing before the train’s come into the station.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal didn’t respond. Uma looked at her painstakingly trying to stuff the last of her robes into her trunk before sitting next to it, taking the bundle of robes from Mal’s hands, and starting to fold them up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Where are you gonna live this summer?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal didn’t look at Uma. “What do you mean? I’m going home.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“To an empty house?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Why not? Can’t be any worse than it usually is.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma packed the folded robes into the trunk. They would have fit so nicely if everything else wasn’t thrown in, and the robes hadn’t been in for more than a few seconds before Mal dumped a bunch of loose school supplies on top of them, creating a mountain that surely wouldn’t allow for the top to close all the way.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I bet my mom would let you stay with us; we have plenty of room,” Uma told Mal.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need anyone; this summer it’s gonna just be me.” Mal gave up on looking for her other glove and shut the lid of the trunk. It didn’t close all the way and Mal heard the distinct sound of something snapping, but she managed to get it in a position where it wouldn’t open and spill out and that was as good as she was going to get it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Uma wasn’t saying anything else, which was probably for the best, so Mal lifted the trunk off of her bed and onto the ground before heading out of the room without even looking Uma’s direction. She didn’t need to see the pity in Uma’s eyes.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>            Mal had exactly eleven days until the Yule Ball, and she still had no idea what she was going to do once it arrived. Sure, she had already thought of a dozen tricks she could pull (stink bombs were a classic), but nothing seemed big enough to impress Peeves, and nothing seemed kind enough to keep the little voice in her head (which sounded a lot like Evie) at bay.</p><p>            Evie still didn’t know of Peeves’ demands. Mal figured that the less collateral damage there was, the better. And Evie might be fiery, but there was no way she would be on board with any of this. Stealing back personal property was one thing, destroying a major school event was on a different level entirely.</p><p>            Over the next couple days, Mal could feel herself withdraw from Evie and her friends. Uma was completely used to Mal’s moods like this and didn’t bother altering her behavior at all, no matter how many times Mal snapped at her or smacked her when Uma got to close. The others, however, had no idea how to react and Mal could see them exchanging glances with each other and walking on eggshells trying to navigate her foul mood.</p><p>            “So, Mal,” Jane said, trying to be her usual cheery self. “What are you wearing to the ball?”</p><p>            Mal looked up from her lunch and stared Jane down. In that moment, she would have set fire to the girl if she could. “Why would I go to some stupid fucking dance?” She looked back down and continued eating.</p><p>            She could practically feel the group silently working out what to do with her, but she had much bigger problems to think about. There wouldn’t be another trip to Hogsmeade before the ball, but maybe she could use the secret tunnel Peeves showed them to sneak to Zonko’s and buy some supplies.</p><p>            “Mal?” Evie’s voice brought her back to the lunch table, where her friends were all looking at her, waiting for a reaction.</p><p>            “What?” She didn’t mean for her question to come out as annoyed as it sounded.</p><p>            “You haven’t touched your food. Are you not hungry?”</p><p>            Mal looked down at the peas she had mashed up with her fork and pushed the plate away from her. “I guess not.”</p><p>            “We have some time before class, do you wanna do something?”</p><p>            “Not really.”</p><p>            Evie looked at Uma for support, who wasn’t even pretending to be concerned. She looked to Jay and Harry, who were suddenly having a very important conversation about broom technique. She looked at Carlos and Jane, who weren’t planning on saying anything anytime soon.</p><p>            “Okay, this is ridiculous,” Evie suddenly stood up, grabbed Mal by the wrist, yanked her up, and began dragging her away from the table.</p><p>            “Hey! What the fuck, Evie?”</p><p>            At that, Evie whipped around and wagged her finger at Mal. “No, you don’t get to swear at me.” Mal was a little surprised to see Evie genuinely angry and her demeanor faltered.</p><p>            Evie continued in response to the silence. “You don’t get to act like this if you’re not going to say what’s wrong.” Mal must have looked as shocked as she felt because Evie softened her grip on Mal and her tone. “We talk to each other, don’t we?”</p><p>            For a second Mal considered bringing up Evie’s mirror, but Evie had somehow sucked all the bitchiness out of her. Now all she felt was empty.</p><p>            Evie took Mal by the hips and pulled her closer until Mal had nowhere to look but into Evie’s eyes. When Evie spoke, Mal could feel her breath on her lips. “Talk to me,” she pled.</p><p>            Mal sighed in defeat. “I may be fucked.”</p><p>            Evie ran her fingers through Mal’s short hair with one hand and kept a tight grip on the small of Mal’s back with the other. “Go on.”</p><p>            “Peeves is cashing in the favor I owe him.”</p><p>            Mal felt Evie tense up; she knew something terrible was coming. “What does he want?”</p><p>            “He told me to pull a prank at the Yule Ball; something so big it will ruin it.”</p><p>            Evie sharply inhaled and her body got even more tense, if that was even possible. “And what did you say?”</p><p>            “Well, what choice do I have? He’ll ruin me if I don’t.”</p><p>            “What about telling a professor? They could stop him.”</p><p>            “And explain why I owe him a favor in the first place? I don’t think so. This is for me to figure out by myself.”</p><p>            “Absolutely not!”</p><p>            Mal tried drawing away from Evie, but her grip was too tight. “E, you can’t. You can’t get in trouble.”</p><p>            “You didn’t leave me to fend for myself when I needed my mirror back, did you?”</p><p>            “Well, no, but-“</p><p>            “But nothing! It’s not different! We’re a team, when are you gonna understand that?” Evie’s long nails running through the purple hair made Mal feel better than she had in days. She closed her eyes to soak in the rare feeling of pleasure.</p><p>            “Are you still with me?” Mal opened her eyes to see Evie smiling at her, but her eyes still carried a little concern.</p><p>            Mal nodded. “Always.”</p><p>            “So let me help you.”</p><p>            Mal didn’t like it; she didn’t like sucking Evie into her mess and setting her up to get in trouble. But Evie’s reassurance that they were a team had already taken the edge off of her anxieties. Before she even knew what she was doing, she gave Evie a small “Okay”, and just like that she had a partner in crime.</p><p>            The girls met in the Room of Requirement after their classes that day. Unlike their usual study setup, the room had transformed itself into something like a common room: comfortable sofas, a stone fireplace, and bookcases and paintings dotting the walls.</p><p>            They were both sprawled out on the couch with Evie writing down any and all ideas they had come up with to do minimum damage to the ball while still appeasing Peeves. So far, their list looked like:</p><ol>
<li><strong>Multiple dungbombs around the room</strong></li>
<li><strong>Belch powder in the punch</strong></li>
<li><strong>Release Cornish Pixies</strong></li>
<li>
<strong><strike>Run away to London</strike></strong>
</li>
</ol><p>“We’ve been here forever, how do we only have four ideas?” Mal complained.</p><p>“I’ve crossed off your running away idea. It doesn’t seem very practical.”</p><p>Mal rolled over and positioned her head to get a better look at Evie’s list, her head resting on Evie’s thigh. “None of these are going to work; this is all stuff a first year could do!”</p><p>“Yes, but anything bigger than this is going to get us expelled. Or, you know, someone could end up dead.”</p><p>Mal rolled onto her other side so that she could look at Evie while talking to her. “But that’s the kind of thing that Peeves wants. He’s not going to accept anything other than a total shitshow.”</p><p>“The pixies wouldn’t be far off from a disaster.”</p><p>“For eight seconds maybe; even we know how to immobilize them.”</p><p>“Alright then, something more annoying than pixies.”</p><p>Mal sat up; she was getting one of her rare good ideas. “Not something more annoying- something <em>bigger</em>. Something so big, no student will be able to help take it down. Everyone will have to evacuate to their rooms; Peeves would love it!”</p><p>“Oh, God, what are you thinking?”</p><p>Mal’s grin could have been described as wicked. “A troll.”</p><p>-</p><p>            Mal was prepared to just waltz right on into the Forbidden Forest and find herself a troll, but Evie insisted on doing some research before hunting down a dangerous beast. They found every book in the library that they could on trolls and camped out on the same chair. The girls had originally split the stack of books in half to get through them faster, but Evie was working far faster than Mal.</p><p>            “Do you think we need to dress it up?” Mal asked, her eyes on the book she was reading but completely glazed over.</p><p>            “What?”</p><p>            “We’re bringing it to a fancy dance; does it need a fancy outfit?”</p><p>            “Why don’t we table that thought until <em>after</em> we’ve actually found ourselves one?”</p><p>            “It’s gonna have to be as close to Saturday as possible; the longer we hold onto it the more likely someone’s gonna find it.”</p><p>            “Well, we agree on something. I don’t know how we’re going to sneak a troll in while everyone’s walking around the hallways. I think I’ll have to wait until everyone’s in the Great Hall.”</p><p>            Mal raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s this ‘I’ll’ business? I’m getting the troll too!”</p><p>            “The way I see it: one of us sneaks the troll in, the other has to be at the ball to make sure no one goes into the hall. And I’ll remind you, one of is banned from the ball.”</p><p>            Mal did not like this plan. Mal did not like this plan at all. “No. I’m not going to the ball!”</p><p>            “Well it’s either that or we get caught, expelled, and probably thrown in Azkaban.”</p><p>            Mal was mulling over what would be worse: being thrown in Azkaban or going to the Yule Ball. She wanted to throw up at the thought of wearing a dress, but the alternative seemed to be sending her girlfriend to Azkaban and spending the foreseeable future with her mother.</p><p>            “Fine, I’ll do it. But only because I don’t want to see you expelled.”</p><p>            “What a romantic.” Evie kissed Mal on the cheek to make her feel better, which it did. “You’ll need something to wear.”</p><p>            “Is it even worth bringing up that I already have my leather jacket?”</p><p>            “No it would not; you’re getting a fitting as soon as possible. And don’t give me that face.”</p><p>            Mal was extremely pouty by this point. The highly dangerous and hair-rising plan was turning into something that seemed a lot like Mal just going to a stupid dance.</p><p>            “Oh, come on,” Evie gave her another kiss on the cheek. “If you behave yourself for your fitting, there may be something in it for you.”</p><p>            Maybe the Yule Ball wasn’t so bad after all. Mal slammed the book she was (not) looking at closed. “Right now. Let’s do it right now.”</p><p>            It took exactly seventeen minutes for Evie to go get her sewing supplies and for the two girls to get to the Room of Requirement, and Mal felt every minute tick by as she waited for her promised reward.</p><p>            Evie had decided the best way to get accurate measurements was for Mal to take off her robe and shirt, so she stood on a stool in her bra and skirt while Evie went around her whole body taking measurements with some sort of enchanted measuring tape.</p><p>            Mal was hyper-aware of Evie’s eyes on every part of her as she measured and even more aware of the kisses that Evie left wherever she went: her calves, her stomach, and her collarbone were all destinations.</p><p>            “That’ll do,” Evie said at last. Although Mal didn’t want the kisses to stop, she was getting awfully tired of holding her arms out.</p><p>            “Where’s my reward?”</p><p>            Evie smiled slyly as she put her tape measure away. She didn’t say anything until she stood on the stool facing Mal, their faces barely a hair’s width apart. “I remember saying that you had to behave yourself,” she said in a teasing whisper.</p><p>            “I did! I barely complained at all!”</p><p>            Evie’s finger traced Mal’s lips to quiet her. It worked immediately. Their eyes were locked together for only a moment before Mal’s impatience and desire got the better of her. She pushed forward to connect with Evie’s lips as her hands found their way to the small of Evie’s back.</p><p>            Evie’s cold hands were pressed against Mal’s cheeks and pulling Mal towards her as if they weren’t already together. It was impossible to tell how long they stayed like that; the moments were only characterized by the different places Evie’s hands travelled to.</p><p>            They ended up on the sofa, lying together with their legs tangled and their arms still desperate to hold onto each other. The kissing had slowed down and Mal found her head lying against Evie’s shoulder while Evie’s fingers ran through her purple hair. She could feel Evie’s rhythmic breathing. Neither girl said anything because nothing needed to be said.</p><p>            Evie’s steady breathing lured Mal’s eyes closed until she fell asleep. If she had fought her exhaustion and stayed awake longer, she would have heard a quiet “I love you” from the girl holding her, and for once in her life, Mal wouldn’t have been afraid to say it back.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Yule Ball</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for playing</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“You could always come play Quidditch with me if you want. I’ll hook you up.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The girl turned her broom sharply in the air to face her opponent and whipped the Quaffle she was holding at his head. As she predicted, he ducked out of the way in plenty of time, but it was the thought that counted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve told you a million times; I’m not thinking about that. We’re only ten, Jay!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re gonna have to think about it soon. What have you got against growing up anyway?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal flew down to the ground where the Quaffle had landed and hopped off of her broom to pick it up. She was planning on flying straight back in the air with it, but Jay had quietly landed behind her and snatched the ball out of her hands. She took the gesture as a push for an answer to his question.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She shrugged in response. “I don’t care about growing up, but why bother dreaming? You and I both know I don’t have a shot at a happy ending.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Even from a young age, Jay’s expression had always been hard to read. If Mal had to guess, he was feeling uncomfortable at the mention of Mal’s home life. Or maybe he was just sick from flying so much. “You could. I’d protect you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mal looked down at the ground. “I know.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was silence as both kids came to terms with the fact that, no matter if Jay tried or not, it would never be enough. Mal would always have her mother pulling her strings. What Mal didn’t say out loud, but they both knew, was that it didn’t matter what Mal wanted to do when she grew up because it wasn’t her choice- it was Maleficent’s.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Are you done playing?” Jay finally asked. “I’ve still got to practice.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Would you choose Quidditch? Even if your dad wasn’t up your ass about it?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jay got back on his broom with the Quaffle in his hand. “We both do what our parents tell us to, don’t we?” He flew back into the air without actually answering her question.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But he was right. Every part of Mal’s life would always be dictated by her mother. Even if Maleficent was clever enough to conceal her tricks, Mal knew that nothing in her life would ever truly be hers.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She got back on her broom and flew after Jay. If nothing in her life was her choice, there was no point in dwelling on it. It was much easier to bury it somewhere secret, and the illusion of free choice could be hers once again.</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>            The days leading up to the ball were agony in more ways than one. The topic of conversation among students became solely focused on what they were wearing, who they</p><p>were going with, and how much fun they knew they were going to have. Mal was reminded every day that she would be partaking in this from Evie’s small fittings- another measurement here and a quick change into her suit there (Mal had absolutely put her foot down about not wearing a dress). And everywhere she went, Mal remembered the dangerous stunt she was going to pull with Evie, and it felt as if she were walking on glass.</p><p>            Her anxieties were only heightened by Evie’s secrecy. Mal tried day after day to get Evie to tell her how she was planning on sneaking away to the Forbidden Forest and coming back with a troll without being flattened like a pancake, but Evie’s lips were sealed.</p><p>            “The less you know, the better,” was her response every time. “Just in case.”</p><p>            Mal did not think it was better for her mind to run wild with all her anxiety-induced ideas of what Evie might be doing in the Forbidden Forest and all the ways she could die, but there was no arguing with Evie once she had made up her mind.</p><p>            And so she woke up Saturday morning, the day of the Yule Ball, with the strange feeling that she had rocks in her stomach, although she had no memory of eating rocks the night before (or eating anything at all, for that matter). Most of her roommates were already awake and buzzing with excited energy, but she lounged in bed for awhile with the small hope that if she didn’t get out, maybe the ball would never arrive.</p><p>            But it kept getting later and later in the morning, and she was forced to conclude that time wasn’t going to stop even for the best of reasons. So she got up, threw on the first outfit that she could find, and made her way to the Room of Requirement where she had promised to meet Evie for her final suit fitting.</p><p>            At first, Evie had just used the Room of Requirement for Mal’s suit because Mal wasn’t able to get into the Hufflepuff common room, but more and more students had asked Evie to make their dresses, and Evie had converted the room into her workspace. Mal walked in to see Evie making final adjustments on a shimmering aqua dress that Uma was going to wear.</p><p>            “How much more do you have to do? These all look incredible.”</p><p>            Evie had some safety pins in her mouth and mumbled something that sounded like “Ah dust finifing a foo laft detills.”</p><p>            Mal walked over and took the safety pins out of her mouth. “What else needs to be done?”</p><p>            Evie cut the thread she was working with. “I think just yours; I came here extra early this morning to make sure everything would get done in time.”</p><p>            Mal could see how stressed Evie was and tried on her suit with no complaints- it was a beautiful royal purple color that matched her leather jacket almost perfectly (although Evie had banned the jacket for the entire day). Every part of it was decorated with green embroidery that gave the appearance of flames. Mal couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder at her girlfriend’s talent and commitment to her art, and try as she might, she couldn’t push down the feeling of elegance while she was wearing it.</p><p>            “And are you ready for…everything else?” Mal asked as Evie finished sewing the last button on the coat.</p><p>            “It’s going to be a busy day, that’s for sure,” Evie replied.</p><p>            “Hufflepuff optimism,” Mal muttered.</p><p>            “You’re worried, aren’t you?”</p><p>            “I didn’t say that.”</p><p>            “You don’t have to.” Evie had finished her work and stood up to bring Mal into her arms. “Everything’s going to be fine. I’ve got this all worked out.”</p><p>            “I’d feel better if I knew what you were planning on doing.”</p><p>            “I know, baby, just trust me, okay? If I get caught, you shouldn’t have any idea of what I was doing. Truth serum is a thing in the wizarding world, you know.”</p><p>            “I’m well aware, but I don’t like it.”</p><p>            Evie drew Mal even closer. “It’ll work out. Just focus on your part tonight, it’ll be over before you know it, and you’ll have Peeves off of your back.”</p><p>            Mal took a deep breath. She hated feeling this scared and vulnerable in front of someone, but as of late she had felt less in control of her emotions than ever. There was something about Evie that broke down all of Mal’s walls and left her with no choice but to share how she really felt.</p><p>            “Now,” Evie conveniently changed topics before either girl started crying, “you’re going to help me deliver all of these dresses. Put Uma’s dress on the rack and help me wheel it down.”</p><p>            They spent the next hour wheeling the rack of dresses around the castle and delivering them to every girl on Evie’s list. Her customers were mostly Hufflepuffs, but they made stops at the Slytherin common room for Uma, Mal, and Freya, met Lonnie and Audrey in the Great Hall, and levitated the rack up the Ravenclaw tower to drop off the last two dresses to two fifth year Ravenclaws. Every student’s reaction was exactly the same when they received their dresses: squeals, absolute joy, and disbelief that Evie could create something so beautiful. Delivering the dresses had definitely lifted the girls’ spirits- Evie was so happy that everyone liked what she had made them, and Mal’s heart soared seeing Evie being praised so much.</p><p>            By the time they were done, it was midafternoon, which meant Evie had to be on her way into the forest and Mal had to get ready for the ball.</p><p>            “Be careful,” Mal said sternly. “You wouldn’t want to break a nail or anything.</p><p>            “I’ll try my best.”</p><p>            “Seriously.”</p><p>            “I know, Mal. You can count on me.”</p><p>            “Okay, then. See you in a bit.”</p><p>            “See you in a bit.”</p><p>            In a moment of weakness (or was it possible that loving someone was a strength?), Mal engulfed Evie in the biggest hug she had ever given anyone. She had a terrible feeling that this might be her last opportunity to hold onto the girl. Evie held Mal back with a fierceness that Mal never would have guessed Evie had the first time they met, but now it was undeniable.</p><p>            Mal refused to be the first to let go. Evie eventually peeled her off of her body and gave her a comforting smile.</p><p>            “Will you please at least <em>try</em> to look like I’m not about to die?”</p><p>            Mal forced a small laugh. “You’ll be fine, I know it.”</p><p>            Satisfied, Evie walked away. Mal watched her walk down the hallway and stayed watching even long after Evie had disappeared around a corner.</p><p>            <em>Evie’s a smart girl</em>, Mal forced herself to think. <em>She is going to be fine.</em></p><p>            She repeated those thoughts to herself over and over as she made her way back to her room to get ready for the ball with her friends. Everyone was overjoyed that Mal was dressing up and going to the ball after all, and she did her best to play along as her and her roommates got into their dresses, sang and danced around the room to music, and did their makeup. Jamie insisted on growing Mal’s hair out with her wand and curling it, and the end result wasn’t half bad.</p><p>            “You almost look like a human,” Uma commented as Mal looked at herself in the mirror.</p><p>            “Almost,” Mal answered.</p><p>-</p><p>            Students had not been allowed in the Great Hall all afternoon while the professors set up and decorated the giant room. When Mal and her friends arrived, she thought it was a miracle they were able to do everything in just one afternoon.</p><p>            Hagrid had been hauling in massive Christmas trees all week, and now there were a dozen in a row on each side of the room, twinkling with colorful lights and decorated with ornaments representing the four different houses.</p><p>            The rest of the room was sparkling in ice decorations; there were giant icicles hanging from the ceiling illuminated by the floating candles, ice sculptures of every wizarding creature imaginable decorated the floor, and the usual long tables had been cleared away and replaced with small, decorated circular tables at one end of the hall. At the other end where the professors normally sat, a stage had been set up for live music and room and been made next to it for dancing.</p><p>Evie had been right- the stress of Mal’s part of the plan almost made her forget the terrible danger her girlfriend had put herself in. The Yule Ball was taking place in the Great Hall, so most students would be gathered in there. Mal’s main task was making sure the hallway by the front door stayed empty so that no one would see (or be stepped on by) a troll walking right through the front door.</p><p>            She stalked the door that led to the hallway, diverting any possible traffic, and giving the occasional glance to see if any trolls and appeared. The problem with Mal’s mission was all of the pesky people trying to make small talk with her and distract her from the only real thing that mattered that night.</p><p>            “Come dance with us!” Freya tried to pull Mal towards the stage.</p><p>            “Not now,” Mal shook the girl off of her and remained at her post.</p><p>            “Do you want any punch?” Uma came by and asked her.</p><p>            “I’ll get some later,” Mal assured her.</p><p>            When she wasn’t dodging her friends, she was busy shooing students away from the door with every excuse she could come up with.</p><p>            “I wouldn’t go there if I were you,” Mal told two Gryffindors looking to get away. “I saw Professor Sprout making googly eyes at Hagrid and the two of them just went through there.”</p><p>            “Sorry,” she told a Hufflepuff later on. “Peeves did something to the door and now it won’t open; McGonagall asked me to keep an eye on it.”</p><p>            When she ran out of excuses, she put on her best mean face and started growling at anyone that came close to her, ensuring both her and the door would be given a wide berth.</p><p>            How long could it possibly take to lure a troll into a magical castle? Evie had left hours ago and there was still no sign of her. Before long, Peeves made an appearance. Mal could see him flying above the students, scanning the crowds for a certain someone. When he spotted her by the door, she let out an audible groan.</p><p>            “There are frightfully few tricks!” Peeves said as he flew over to her.</p><p>            “Well, there will be. Get out of here, or you’ll make the professors suspicious!”</p><p>            Peeves growled at her, but he knew she was right. He flew off again, muttering to himself about smelly children while Mal took another peek out the door. She was just in time to see a streak of blue run by.</p><p>            “Hey!” Mal called out. Evie made a quick stop, locked eyes with Mal, gave a smile and blew her a kiss, and kept running.</p><p>            Mal took that as a sign that everything had gone according to plan. The sudden shaking of the floor underneath her was also a sign that everything had gone according to plan. She saw a glance of something much taller than she was and quickly closed the door with a fifteen-foot mountain troll just on the other side.</p><p>            She walked quickly away from the door and made her way to her friends on the dance floor. The plan was in motion, and there was no need for her to bring attention to the situation; fifteen-foot trolls had a way of bringing attention to themselves.</p><p>            “It’s about time you joined us!” Uma grabbed Mal’s hand and started swinging her along to the beat of the song. Mal went along and started counting the seconds as they went by. Maybe she had done too good of a job guarding the door and the troll would remain undiscovered.</p><p>            But that was not the case. It was hard to notice that the floor had started shaking more than it should have under the weight of hundreds of students dancing, but when an ice sculpture shaped like a hippogriff fell and shattered, people stopped what they were doing and looked around.</p><p>            With everyone frozen, it was impossible not to notice the shaking and hear the distinct sound of a stone hallway being smashed just outside the Great Hall.</p><p>            It was Madame Hooch that finally broke the seal and opened the door closest to the source of the rumbling. Everyone, Mal included, watched as she took one step outside the door and quickly jumped back in and slammed the door. The color in her face had completely drained.</p><p>            It took Dumbledore no time at all to make his way to Hooch and to get a very quick update on the situation. If every student in the room weren’t already watching them, Mal thought that they were handling this very discreetly.</p><p>            “Attention students,” Dumbledore boomed, although he already had everyone’s attention. “Will Prefects please escort their Houses back to their respective common rooms immediately. All students will need to use the South hallways. And may I ask all staff to meet me here.”</p><p>            And that was that. Students and professors alike scrambled in all different directions to get where they were going. Mal hadn’t even started moving and yet somehow bumped into two separate people. She stayed frozen for a moment, as if everything were happening around her, and glanced up to see Peeves above it all, smiling and cackling to himself.</p><p>            And then she was moving, being dragged by Uma and pushed by Jay through the crowd of students who, moments before, had been dancing without a care in the world. She couldn’t name one person that she passed, everything was too much and happening too fast, all she felt was Jay’s hands on her shoulders as her brain turned off all coherent thoughts.</p><p>            All thoughts except one: Evie. She pulled herself out of her own head just as they made their way into the hallway and she ripped her hand away from Uma.</p><p>            “I’ll be back,” she said as she wiggled away from Jay’s grip and took off in the opposite direction.</p><p>            “Not fucking again,” she heard Uma say, and Mal was inclined to believe her, but it was far too late; her brain had given the order to run and now she was taking off, pushing past panicked students to make sure her girlfriend was far from the danger.</p><p>            By the time Mal had made it back to the front of the Great Hall, the troll was long gone. It clearly had gotten bored of standing around and sounding angry and was slowly making its rounds around the castle. Mal followed the broken stone walls and tipped-over suits of armor away from the Great Hall and towards some of the classrooms. She was confident that the troll wouldn’t be going anywhere; its height made it impossible to get through any doors.</p><p>            Then again, as Mal turned a corner, she realized that there was no reason the troll shouldn’t just knock the classroom walls down to get to where it pleased. She stared in front of her at the gaping hole that seemed the perfect height for a make-shift troll door leading right to the Transfiguration classroom.</p><p>            But, regardless of some major property damage, Evie hadn’t come this way, so Mal was perfect content to turn around and run back to her common room. That is, until-</p><p>            “SOMEONE HELP!”</p><p>            Mal whirled back around as she heard the scream coming from the Transfiguration classroom. It definitely wasn’t Evie, and Mal was hesitant to get involved, but a piercing shriek set her feet in motion and, without another thought, she scrambled over the remains of the classroom wall to face the beast inside.</p><p>            The troll took up most of the classroom- the desks and chairs swatted out of the way as easily as pieces of paper. Its back was to Mal (thank Merlin) and hadn’t seen her yet; it was too busy trying to grab at something in the corner of the classroom, and Mal had a sneaking suspicion what had its attention.</p><p>            Her fears were confirmed when she heard another scream come from the other side of the troll as it tried to swipe at the student in the corner. It missed, but the student was trapped, and it was only a matter of time before its massive hands would make contact.</p><p>            Mal had to think fast, but the only thought going through her brain was that she was going to get another student killed <em>again</em>. What could she possibly do to take down a massive troll with fists the size of a desk?</p><p>            The desks! Was she a fucking wizard or not? She took out her wand and with the screech of the banishing charm, she sent three desks flying towards the troll, hitting it directly on the back and neck. The troll turned around, and the expression on its face said that it was more annoyed and angry by the attack than actually hurt. And it had spotted Mal.</p><p>            As it turned, Mal saw the student dart out from behind the troll while it was distracted. It was Cam- a second year Hufflepuff. He kept tight against the wall as he tried to make his way past the troll’s giant feet, but the troll gave him no notice; it had found a new target. It turned around, shoving the desks Mal had flown at him aside in one sweep of its arm and made slow steps towards Mal.</p><p>            “Come on!” Cam abandoned the wall and began sprinting towards her and the giant exit in the wall.</p><p>            Mal wanted to run so bad, but how long would it be before the troll overtook her and killed the both of them? And how soon after that would he begin picking off the students and staff one by one? This was her mess to clean up, and so she stood her ground as the sound of Cam’s footsteps disappeared down the hall.</p><p>            She stood between the troll and the hole in the wall, realizing how pathetic she was as she sized up her opponent and desperately tried to recall everything she had learned about trolls. The only piece of advice she could remember was to turn the other way and run if she ever saw one, which wasn’t helping her confidence.</p><p>            Mal would never be able to kill the thing, and it was way too strong to trap it anywhere, so she was left with knocking it unconscious.</p><p>            “Accio desk!” Mal shot her wand out and dropped to the floor at the same time, anticipating the flying desk hurtling towards both her and the troll. The desk knocked the troll over the back of the head and landed inches in front of Mal.</p><p>            The troll stopped and turned around, expecting another enemy to fight. Mal didn’t miss a beat.</p><p>            “Depulso!” The desk in front of her exploded forward, once again hitting the troll in the head and crashing at its feet.</p><p>            Mal didn’t hesitate any longer; she knew exactly what to do. The desks hit the troll in rapid succession as Mal switched between the two spells, her aim so good that any Quidditch chaser would be jealous.</p><p>            After a few minutes (and more than one broken desk), the troll collapsed with a sickening thud. Mal kept her wand out and ready, just in case, and crept closer to the suspiciously quiet mound of troll. She gave one of its shins a small kick, but nothing happened.</p><p>            “Oh, my word!” Mal spun around to see McGonagall standing in the hallway, gaping at Mal and the fallen beast. Slughorn and Dumbledore stood behind her, both with varying levels of shock and amusement on their faces.</p><p>            “Mal, you should be in your common room with the rest of the students!” McGonagall said as she hurried over the wrecked wall and to Mal’s side. Mal didn’t say anything.</p><p>            Slughorn and Dumbledore made their way inside the room and inspected the troll. “I dare say,” Slughorn began as he rubbed his chin, “a fifteen-foot mountain troll taken down by a young girl.”</p><p>            “It is rather remarkable,” Dumbledore agreed.</p><p>            “Are the two of you not the least bit concerned for her safety?” McGonagall snapped at them.</p><p>            “Minerva, the girl seems fine,” Slughorn said as he glanced at Mal.</p><p>            It was true. Mal was alive. She was shaking, but she was alive. And so was Evie. And so was everyone else.</p><p>            “It seems the school owes you a great thanks,” Dumbledore said to Mal. “Although I cannot condone your blatant disregard for my orders.”</p><p>            Slughorn chuckled. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”</p><p>            “Indeed. As such, I’m afraid I’ll have to take fifty points from Slytherin.”</p><p>            Mal groaned; her house would kill her when they found out.</p><p>            “However,” Dumbledore continued, “great heroics should never go unrewarded. Hogwarts is in your debt Mal.”</p><p>            Mal perked up. “Does that mean I can ask for a favor?”</p><p>            Dumbledore’s mouth twitched in what Mal thought could only be a smile. “Asking and receiving are two entirely different matters.”</p><p>            Mal resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the headmaster’s fucking riddles. “Well, the ball is still tonight, right? The Great Hall didn’t get destroyed.”</p><p>            The three professors glanced at each other and took part in a quick silent conversation. “Once this troll is back where it belongs, I see no reason why the Yule Ball cannot continue,” Dumbledore answered.</p><p>            Mal smiled. “Perfect.”</p><p>-</p><p>            The painting that led to the Hufflepuff common room flew open and Mal wasted no time running inside. The common room was full of Hufflepuffs milling about waiting for news that the danger had passed, and all eyes were on her as she ran in.</p><p>            “You’re not supposed to be here!” someone said from the crowd.</p><p>            “Like I give a shit!” Mal yelled back.</p><p>            “Mal?” Evie pushed her way to her girlfriend. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>            Mal grinned. “Grab a dress, princess; we’ve got a ball to attend.”</p><p>            “The ball is still happening?” The crowd of Hufflepuffs began murmuring to each other excitedly, but Mal took no notice. She pulled at Evie, trying her best to drag her towards the girls’ rooms.</p><p>            “Come on already! We don’t have all night!”</p><p>            Evie pulled back, forcing Mal to stop. “M, have you lost it? I can’t go to the ball, remember?”</p><p>            “Don’t worry about that, I took care of it.”</p><p>            Evie froze and gave Mal a hard stare, waiting for the punch line. “You’re serious?”</p><p>            “Of course I’m serious. Now go put on something big and poofy and let’s go!”</p><p>            With all the professors working together, the Yule Ball managed to get back on track in less than an hour. The Great Hall was filled with students, ghosts, and faculty alike, with the exception of one mountain troll and one poltergeist.</p><p>            Mal and Evie were out on the dance floor with all of their friends. Mal had never seen her girlfriend happier. Evie’s royal blue dress seemed to glow under the twinkling lights in the room, and her smile was bright enough to light the darkest of rooms.</p><p>            After a bit of dancing, Mal grabbed Evie’s waist and drew her close, stopping only when she felt the familiar impression of Evie’s body on hers. Mal looked into Evie’s eyes and was almost knocked down by what was staring back at her: a look of complete love and utter devotion.</p><p>            “I love you,” Mal whispered.</p><p>            “I love you too,” Evie echoed back. “But we don’t have to dance together if you don’t want to. I know you don’t like when people stare.”</p><p>            Mal gripped Evie even tighter. She didn’t dare take her eyes off of the princess she held so dearly. “Let them stare; you’re all I see.”</p>
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